THEATRE TIME CAPSULE. A participatory theatre project as a hybrid of workshop, performance and festival

In the research project THEATRE TIME CAPSULE, Yves Regenass investigated how theatre - which cannot take place due to Corona - can be created in the present but only performed in the future. Inspired by Elisabeth Bronfen's strategy of cross-mapping, he asked himself how the relevant peculiarities of the time can be preserved and become an object of knowledge for an audience in the future.

The result is a concept for performances that are to be performed in 2040. The participatory theater project consists of three parts that are planned and carried out by an interdisciplinary production team: a workshop, a send-off party and a performance in the future.

For each of the parts, a script is created as part of the project that regulates the corresponding processes. The design of the workshop script determines how material is collected for the theatrical time capsule. The workshop, led by the production team, takes place in a group of twelve people with very specific pandemic experiences: A person who has experienced the pandemic during the pandemic

… became pregnant

… has made a decision for the community.

… has lost someone forever.

… made a lot of money.

… got stuck somewhere for a while.

… considered himself lucky.

… has realized a big dream.

… made compromises.

… learned a new language.

… changed jobs.

… fell in love.

… has rediscovered the Internet.

During the workshop, a production script is created in the form of instructions. This is packed away and sealed together with the material needed to carry it out and sent into the future on the day of the send-off in a public, staged celebration.

The time capsules created in this way will be opened in a group of spectators 120 years after the start of the pandemic and performed collectively according to instructions. To make this possible, various memory strategies will be installed...

The research results and the concept for the theatrical time capsule were recorded in a slipcase designed by Simon Koschmieder. Inside is a bundle – a collection of all the documents that the project has produced, the documentation of material that has been made available via the website www.theatre-time-capsule.com collected (an intermediate step of the research project), a brochure explaining the concept, and a manual providing information about all the components.

If you would like to take a closer look at the documentation of the concept, you can download a corresponding PDF file with the note “Time Capsule Concept” via info@yvesregenass.ch send.

With the support of the Swiss Cultural Foundation Pro Helvetia and the Dance and Theatre BL/BS Committee.