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A STAGE AND MUSIC PROJECT BY CHRISTOPH MARTHALER There are indications that the next cable car cabin might take [the visitors] to the first circle of hell. They still believe that they are enjoying their situation, and they have paid much to be where they are - at least, they pretend to each other that they did. Unabashed, they continue to believe in high culture while life is humiliating them. In their heart of hearts, they all know that the prolongation of their temporal existence is of interest to nobody. In all stage productions of Christoph Marthaler, people exist through song. This evening's musical territory will extend between Gustav Mahler, Johann Sebastian Bach and trivial genres. In Christoph Marthaler's farewell production, O.T. - Eine Ersatzpassion (Untitled - An Ersatz Passion), at the Zurich Schauspielhaus in 2003 the director despatched his actors into the middle of a scenario reminiscent of Dante' Divine Comedy: to the sounds of Bach's Saint Mathew's Passion, Marthaler's figures undertook their last attempts to re-politicise their relations, failed utterly, and finally, in serene despair, handed in their letters of recommendation in the hope of a positive response from higher powers. O.T. - the nameless intermediary realm, forecourt to a strange paradise. After four years, Christoph Marthaler has returned to Zurich and chosen the opposite direction for his project in the Rote Fabrik. The scene of the action: a hospice-like institution with a cable railway link. As far as smooth trips to heaven are concerned, the predominant mood is one of hopelessness. The passengers in the hanging cable-car are heading straight to the First Circle of Hell. All those gathered in this particular place have enjoyed the last benefits of the social welfare system, and nothings indicates that they will be spared the final downhill slide. Yet none of those present want to believe that they have already received the corresponding ticket. And so the "Damned" engage enthusiastically in a diversion aimed at preserving their personal dignity. With ambition and competitiveness they lay claim to wealth, fitness and a vision of the future. Looking around them, they lament the fact that the increasing number of first-class patients impedes the special treatment they used to be guaranteed, while an acute lack of space delays a swift recovery. In the hospice massage and sports rooms they train for their social comeback, but in doing so forget, in the truest sense of the term, that their return is desired by no one. In the hard struggle for exclusive status among the hospice inhabitants, only one rule applies: make space for yourself in the restricted surroundings and awaken unrestrained envy in the others. After stops in Berlin, Brussels, Gent, Bayreuth and Salzburg, Christoph Marthaler is returning to Zurich with the intention of re-sorting the categories,of social exclusion by a method of reversal. PLATZMANGEL: a training camp where you learn to survive under false pretences and assert yourself in times of private insurance.

CHRISTOPH MARTHALER - 1951 in Zürich geboren, hat nach Musik- und Theaterstudien in Zürich und Paris als Komponist und Theatermusiker an diversen grossen deutschsprachigen Bühnen gearbeitet und eigene Musiktheaterproduktionen entwickelt.

The venue: a health institute reached by cable-car. The time: today, between a round and another taken by the head physician among his patients. The characters: men and women with allegedly exclusive tastes. At first, this seems to be a clear case of a luxury rehab clinic. The people gathered here are convinced of living in a paradise for the affluent. Together, they hallucinate of their privileges in ( this feel-good ward.