Teatro Delusio is theatre in the theatre. A fantastic ensemble excels in breathtaking fighting scenes, deadly intrigues and heart-breaking arias of world-famous plays. Night by night they steer towards unprecedented triumphs. That is on one side. On the other side three stage technicians work in the backstages‘ darkness. Their lives, which usually remain hidden, now recede into the light.
Familie Flöz has created a small family, whose home is the theatre itself: the efficient Bob is young, strong and unpredictable; the chronically tired and sickly Bernd is constantly bossed around and the idle, always hungry Ivan is permanently anxious not to loose control over the shows.
Separated from the radiant stars on stage by nothing more than a sparse scenery the three untiring helpers are fighting for their own happiness in a different universe. Yet in a magical way the glamorous world of pretence connects and is blended with the down to earth life backstage. Teatro Delusio is once again the art to say everything without a single word.
Familie Flöz – Approach
Familie Flöz makes theatre with material that exists, before the need for speech. Every conflict initially manifests itself in the body. Physical conflict is the birth of every dramatic situation. Every production is made in a creative, collective process in which all performers also engage as the authors of their characters and situations. In countless improvisations the group works around its self-chosen theme and collects dramatic material, before the speechless masks come into play. Similar to working with text, the mask brings with it not only a form, but also content. From the development of a mask, into the playful probing and through to the symbiosis of player and mask, the process significantly shapes the result.
The fundamental paradox of the mask – one covers the living face with a rigid form in order to create a living character – is at once compelling and challenging for the actor. But not only for him. The mask comes to life initially in the imagination of the spectator, who in this instant also becomes creator. Sensitive to the spectators responses, and with a critical eye on our own work, all Flöz productions continue to develop and change as they are played and consequently inherit their density and intensity.
"Wordless and yet somehow so expressive, full of yearning and yet also filled with joy; this is splendid and immensely skillful character comedy."
We hear the audience cheer and whistle (...) Our fantasy goes on a rampant run (...) The basic idea behind “Teatro Delusio” is as simple as it is brilliant."
"It’s a source of never-ending wonder that masks can convey such a myriad of human emotions (...) masterful (…)"
“At the end of a performance one could swear that the actors had spoken, laughed and cried. A fascinating experiment in theater that is executed with incredible body control.”
“Familie who? It’s the Berlin artist collective whose mask theatre is causing furore and selling out theatre houses in the whole world.”
“The public squeals with enthusiasm, people stomp their feet and, when it is all over, they stand on their chairs as if thanking the performers for the gift they have just received. Theater can be magnificent.”
“The roars of laughter encroaching from every side, whether hysterical howl or drawn-out, knowing sigh, truly were bolts out of the theatre sky, thundering into the hall without advance warning.”
“A creation of great poetic power that will long be remembered.”
“A creation entirely without words yet extraordinarily eloquent, thanks on the one hand to the large, whimsical masks which have made the German theatre company famous throughout the world, and, on the other hand, to that uniquely sophisticated body control able to imbue the rigidity of the masks with an unimaginable array of expression and emotion.”
