My Kingdom for a Joke

In a simple stage setting with unique costumes, the performers risk everything for liberating laughter, demonstrating how shared wonder can connect people and momentarily lighten the load in a crisis-ridden world.


What wouldn't people give for a good joke? Their last shirt, their dignity, the last bit of grant money, their kingdom!


Like Shakespeare's antihero Richard III, whose famous cry of "My kingdom for a horse!" became a symbol of poetic despair, they call upon a joke to re-envision the theater as a place of possibility in a grim reality.


"My Kingdom for a Joke" is a serious exploration of entertainment and humor through the lens of contemporary performance. While the world's tragedies multiply ad infinitum, and irony and resignation often seem to be the only counterpoints, Ariel Efraim Ashbel and Friends seek a genuine moment of levity, humor as a community-building practice and a bridge between the individual and the world.


Reminiscent of the sparse stages of stand-up comedy, the set and lighting design are radically reduced, while the costumes are truly eye-catching. The performers' craft is at the forefront: Accompanied by live music and using methods such as improvisation, clowning, and sketch comedy, the seasoned comedians Thelma Buabeng, Jessica Gadani, Colin Hacklander, and Tatiana Saphir repeatedly approach the audience with their very own contradictions and vulnerabilities, risking everything for a laugh.


The possibility (probability!) of failure only makes it all the more enjoyable: In every apparent mistake lies the opportunity for people to see each other as they truly are – and perhaps come a little closer to a shared reality.


Approx. 70 min.