CURSED – a preinvented world.

A live commentary tracks the action as if in a sports broadcast. Conversations turn into rumours, rumours into collective states of mind, and collective states of mind into new versions of reality.

The world of CURSED feels like a city where everyone is trying to become someone else. Tourists desperately try to appear local. A waste disposal unit keeps things running, as if social decay could be halted by adding yet another layer. Amidst all this move the so-called ‘Oblivion-infected’ – people who evade social rules yet are constantly under observation. Groups begin to imitate one another. Behaviours spread through the space like trends, rumours or memes. No one seems entirely sure whether reality is still being produced here – or merely its next version.

Under the term ‘Real Game Play (RGP)’, the international artists’ collective OMSK Social Club, based in Berlin, develops performative role-play formats. Unlike in traditional theatre, there is no fixed script and no linear plot. Instead, a social fabric emerges from rules, situations and shifting constellations, which is reshaped live during every performance. Over the course of ten performances, CURSED unfolds as an ongoing narrative. At the heart of the work – which is also the collective’s first theatre production – lies a trial: a public trial.

CURSED – a preinvented world. asks what happens when a society immediately evaluates, comments on and dissects every idea, even before it has a chance to emerge. What happens when you can no longer tell whether you are merely watching – or already taking part?

THE WITNESS

You may be called to the witness stand as a witness and, during the trial, asked to describe your observations. Stay alert; trust your perceptions. Your perspective is important. Start: 7.00 pm THE JURY As part of the jury, you will follow the entire trial. Take your time, listen and observe as the story gradually unfolds.

• Starts: 7.00 pm

THE TOURIST

You’ll take on the role of observers and become part of the action. Move freely around the room and decide for yourselves what you’d like to look at more closely and where you’d like to linger.

• Starts: 7.30 pm

THE WATCHER

You are both observers and watchers. Find your place on the periphery of the action and keep an eye on how things unfold. Stay alert – that is your task.

• Start: 8.00 pm

THE OBLIVION-INFECTED

Do you want to go beyond the rules of the room? Sign up and become part of those infected by oblivion. Move through the room as if the walls no longer mattered. You are not here to overpower others, but simply to outlast them.

• Arrival: 4.15 pm, meeting point: Main entrance to the Prater
• Start of the workshop: 4.30 pm
• Workshop duration: approx. 3 hours, including make-up
• Start of the performance: 7.30 pm