UNTER DRUCK | Ronja Donath

"UNTER DRUCK - ein multimedialer Ritt durch den Trollwald" is an experimental workshop project in which artists from different fields have developed and tested a new format of interaction between theatre, video art and IT.

“You have to be strong, perfect, fast, effective, better…”

Phrases, images, videos that reflect and remind us of this every day . They make our pulses race, make us short of breath and give us headaches. Everyone knows this feeling of being "under pressure" - whether it's due to external influences or our own demands. It never seems to be enough.

Hedda, the protagonist of the story, literally falls into the world of Nordic fairy tale characters while spinning on this everyday wheel. In the troll forest she encounters, among others, a forest spirit, a stubborn Nissen and a dangerous and shape-shifting Nöck. Like Hedda, these fantastic creatures of the north are not free from pressure. For example, the forest is to be felled and the forest troll is under pressure to save the forest and is in the end of his magical powers and ingenuity.

MUSIC

The production is musically complemented by the northern duo “Pabameto”. Pay Bandik and Melf Torge Nonn’s compositions are classified as “Nordic folk”. This style of music is characterised by its mixture of cheerfulness and lightness, playfulness, dark and sometimes deep, heavy tones. This magical, mystical note of the music underlines and tells the story of Hedda in the Troll Forest on another level.

WORKING METHODS

The working method and development of "UNTER DRUCK" also has an exploratory and experimental character: none of the artists has ever worked on a similar concept before. There is only one actress on stage. The other counterparts, the fairytale characters, appear digitally via video on the screen. Actress Ronja Donath “recorded” all the fairy tale characters herself in pre-production by recording their movements on camera using motion capture technique developed by cybernetic artist Dirk Hoffmeister. Hoffmeister programmed his own framework especially for this project, which is a unique basis for this interdisciplinary art form. The fairytale characters and backgrounds were designed by video artist Pola Rader.