Licht

“When I was in captivity, I said to him:
If I ever survive this, I will tell the entire world what you did to us. I will tell the story for myself and for all the women of the world.
He said: Hush. If you speak another word, I will cut your tongue off.
Now I am here to tell the story.”

In our times, there are few horrors unheard of and unimaginable. The crimes ISIS committed against the Yazidi women in North Iraq are among them. Certain demons you slaughter from within. In “Licht”, director Tea Tupajić invites the Yazidi women to descend into themselves to try just that.

After a yearlong journey of preparation, the women come on stage to tell the story of what happened, exactly how they remember it. They bleed it out then and never again, part by part, until they can’t anymore. They do so, so that all that happened was not for nothing. Their voice is their power. With faith in theatre, they leave the story with the audience.

Every night one part of the story is told.

Licht IX is the final part, the last performance where the protagonists recount the whole story and bring it to its end. It is a victorious ode to survival.

Licht is about destiny. The one written for us and the one we rewrite for ourselves together in theatre. As Licht travelled to different cities, Tea Tupajić invited everyone in the hosting theatres to together create a proscenium curtain. On the curtain, they embroidered by hand the stellar constellation of the sky in the night of the premiere. Every star carries the story of one person.

“Licht I”, “Licht II” and “Licht III“ were presented at the Münchner Kammerspiele. The other parts were presented internationally, in theatres and festivals led by female artistic directors only.

The performance lasts a few hours with a short break. The end is dependent on the decision of the performers. The process of creating “Licht” and performing it in different episodes of the story in different cities has been an intense and interesting one. After the last performance, join us at the Kantine to meet the storytellers and the team and to raise a toast to the experience we shared.

Photo: Sima Dehgani

Photo: Sima Dehgani

Photo: Sima Dehgani

Photo: Sima Dehgani

Photo: Sima Dehgani

Photo: Sima Dehgani

Photo: Sima Dehgani

Photo: Sima Dehgani

Photo: Sima Dehgani

Photo: Sima Dehgani

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Sima Dehgani

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