Spooky Paradise

In Philippe Quesne's new production, the director and visual artist introduces a series of peculiar characters, the last heirs of a circus family. Without their animals and devoid of any acrobatic virtuosity, they struggle to keep their business alive.

Are they in an abandoned fairground, a haunted house, or on a film set? Are these performers simply exhausted, on the verge of disappearing, or are they at the dawn of a possible rebirth?

At the end of Intervista, Federico Fellini's last film, which he shot shortly before the bankruptcy of the Cinecittà film studios, the Italian director mentions his producer's recurring wish: "A glimmer of hope? Well, I don't know... We can try."

Philippe Quesne, with his keen sense for the ephemeral, for atmosphere, and for the fantastical everyday, presents a new work here with a multilingual ensemble of actors and musicians, balancing on the edge between utopia and a gently melancholic dystopia.

Spooky Paradise is Philippe Quesne's first production at the Volksbühne am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz.

In 2003, he founded his company Vivarium Studio, a loose collective of visual artists, actors, and musicians, and over the years has become one of France's most important artistic voices. Productions created in collaboration with his company have been produced in partnership with major European and international festivals and have been performed in numerous countries since their inception.


GERMAN / ENGLISH SURTITLES