Stones - Orto-Da Theater | 39th Berlin Jewish Culture Days

Performer and director Yinon Tzafrir developed the production together with his six-member ensemble over a period of more than twelve years. The sculptures, brought to life, explore the culture of remembrance not through language, but through tableaux vivants, physical theater, a haunting soundtrack, and precise lighting design. This moving and at the same time surprisingly humorous performance weaves history together with stories of individual resilience.

The starting point is the Monument to the Heroes of the Warsaw Ghetto, created in 1948 by the Jewish sculptor Nathan Rapoport. The monumental, double-sided block of Swedish labradorite commemorates the 1943 Warsaw Ghetto Uprising: While the front depicts larger-than-life bronze figures of resistance fighters in battle, the back portrays a group of people on their way to their deaths. The site gained worldwide fame through Willy Brandt’s kneeling gesture in 1970—a symbolic act of seeking forgiveness for German crimes.

For its extraordinary stage aesthetics, the ensemble has been honored with 15 international theater awards to date, including one for “Stones” as “Best Play.”

This year, the Orto-Da Theatre is celebrating its 30th anniversary.