Via Intolleranza II

The provisional final performance of ‘Via Intolleranza II’ in Munich has already taken place without Christoph Schlingensief, who had to leave for reasons of illness, and showed that it works – sadly – even without him. 90 concentrated minutes about the colonial situation in our heads. Schlingensief and his team just as much included as the pleasant Africans who are only in Europe looking for agents and careers. The framework is provided by a couple of remembered quotations from Nono’s ‘Intolleranza’, socially-aware avant-garde opera from distant times, where one still knew exactly where morality and progress were leading. The debate is as Gordian as it is fruitful, and after the dilemmas and their intractability have been repeatedly raised, examined and allowed to collapse in a compact performance, an African version of Bayreuth almost seems to be the logical consequence. At the end a Schlingensief double sits behind a pane of glass surrounded by a projected scratchy film, bangs hesitantly on the glass and asks the good old futile question of all artists like Mr Punch: “Another weird bit of performance art. Is anybody there?” Be warned: this is not a homage to Schlingensief, but a notable production!

Franz Wille