An empty room. Curtains flow over a golden bed, light streams in. Silence. Only a breeze stirs the scene. This is the room of the muses. Once artists, researchers, geniuses themselves—today merely ideas, projection surfaces, inspirations.
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How could it have come to this? They were robbed of what they had created. Men appropriated their words, images, and insights, passed them off as their own, and reaped fame, glory, and immortality—while the muses vanished. But now, three of them return to the stage of their creative power. First, they find their voices, then their bodies, and finally their words. They step forward and tell their story. With language, song, and dance, they unfold their narrative: a tale of erasure and appropriation.
An experience that has persisted for centuries, yet mostly remains hidden. Since antiquity, the image of the muse has accompanied us: a woman, divinely transfigured, who inspires the artist. But reality tells a different story. Women who created themselves were robbed of their works. Their names vanished, and the credit went to their thieves.
The performance is loosely inspired by the play *Den bergtagna* by Swedish author Victoria Benedictsson, in which an artist manipulates and possesses women through love and the promise of artistic immortality. Scenes unfold on stage from fragments and quotations (in German translation) from that very play. But Benedictsson's own life also serves as inspiration: Although she moved in literary circles with famous writers, she always remained in their shadow. Her works, among others, inspired Henrik Ibsen's *Hedda Gabler* and shaped European literary history, yet her name has been largely forgotten. While Ibsen remains world-renowned, Benedictsson has been almost entirely forgotten. Her story, her silence, and the invisible traces she left behind intertwine with the voices of the muses.
This theatrical evening aims to uncover the invisible aspects of women's history and demands remembrance, recognition, and justice.
I don't love you, you inspire me
- Directed by: Elli Treptow
- Cast: Karoline Sachslehner, Sera Ahamefule
- Costume/Makeup/Set Design: Ole Ferchland
