BODY WORK

Pelvis forward. Back straight. Barbell to hips. Lower down. Repeat. Don’t cry. Pain is just weakness leaving the body! Three sets of eight repetitions. Calories burned 168 kcal, weight loss 23g. These, you wimp, are deadlifts.

Life is a gym: this is not a place to play. This is work. The will subdues the body, this lazy dog. The mind (colouratura soprano) controls the body (bass) and the latter is supposed to become fit, desirable, immortal. Because with the right management, death itself can be cheated. Definitely. …for sure…

Body Work is a musical theatre workout by Amy Stebbins (text and direction, at NKO SCHÖNER WOHNEN) and Laura Winkler (music) for two singers and two percussionists. The stage is a course of musical-percussive training equipment. A roaring treadmill, a ringing home trainer, a harp made of Pilates bands that drive, wear out nerves and make the rhythmically impossible possible. Body Work runs away from the only certainty of our lives in a ludicrous, accelerating musical theatre circuit training. Death, a running gag…

WITH
Andrea Conangla, Isaac Tolley, Taiko Saito, Valentin Schuster

TEXT AND DIRECTOR Amy Stebbins COMPOSITION Laura Winkler STAGE AND COSTUME Christian Wiehle DRAMATURGY Änne-Marthe Kühn