1000 Ft (Trafó bérlet érvényes)
The ensemble of NICO AND THE NAVIGATORS was founded 1998 at the Bauhaus Dessau under the artistic direction of Nicola Hümpel. It is uniting artists of different disciplines (theatre, dance, plastic arts, design, music). Over the years, productive creative structures and a finely concerted cooperation have emerged by the concurrence of the different disciplines. The basic idea of developing the plays together in a thematic and practical working process has been pursued by the ensemble until today. The first production of NICO AND THE NAVIGATORS being supported by the foundation \Kulturfonds\ is called Ich war auch schon einmal in Amerika and is premiered at the Bauhaus Dessau in 1998. Bauhaus Dessau is the ensemble's birthplace, and it has been a close cooperation partner ever since.
Still in the same year, Jochen Sandig (then artistic director of the Sophiensæle) invites Nicola Hümpel and her set designer Oliver Proske with their production to his theatre. Since that time, the Navigators belong to the most important artists in residence of the Sophiensæle.
It is here that, with the continuous support of the \Berliner Senat für Wissenschaft, Forschung und Kultur\, funds of foundations and co-producers, between 1999 and 2001 the Cycle 'Human Images' originates, which includes the productions Lucky Days, Fremder! (1999), Eggs on Earth (2000) and Lilli in putgarden (2001). They are followed by the pieces Der Familienrat (2002) and KAIN, WENN & ABER (2003).
All works are shown at numerous festivals in Germany and abroad. Over the years, NICO AND THE NAVIGATORS are joined by international co-producers (Grand Theatre Groningen, La Filature, Le Carreau), and enthusiastic press comments from Germany, France, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Belgium and Russia are accumulating. Time and again, critics report the discovery of a new theatre language by NICO AND THE NAVIGATORS. The productions of 2000 and 2003 are nominated for the \Friedrich-Luft-Preis\, Eggs on Earth is shortlisted for the \Berliner Theatertreffen 2000.
Nicola Hümpel and her company Nico and the Navigators have created a new form of improvisation theatre... the type of actor represented by a “navigator” wins the audience over with a combination of charm and carefree at the same time... Nico is celebrating a theatre of slowness that lives from the art of reduction. She invented an editing technique for the collage-like scenes. The works of Nico and the Navigators always deal with the integration of human behaviour. Rituals of everyday life are alienated, and processes are driven into the artificial and the absurd. The set design in its graphic clarity provides a contrast to the hovering mental conditions. Sandra Luzina, Tagesspiegel, May 31st 2000
And with this, the company's third production, it finally crosses the borderline from hot tip to top of the heat... The best aspect is the frivolity... It is not Oskar Negt or Peter Grottlan, rather Buster Keaton the Master of this type of theatre work. This is quasi a Slapstick version of “Top Dogs”. Off and on one of the actors tries, after disappointment and confusion, to get a Mr. Fock on the telephone - which sounds like a mixture between Fuck and God. All of this can be interpreted or not: Meaning is not forced, instead remains as a playful offer which is there to be used or left aside. The new world atlas as head protection, the dancing pepper-mill, the stuffed bird; red briefcases, white shoes; and chairs like lighting made of wood which are put together by being stuck into a pedestel. Later heads are then sandwiched between these chairs. “Do not listen to deep within yourself, there is nothing” says one worker clone to another. But behind each of these worker clones lies a whole world of histories. “I want to go to the top, don’t you also want to go to the top?” is another key phrase of the evening. When Nico and the Navigators continue in the direction they are heading, nothing can stand in their way. Petra Castell, SFB/NDR/ORB ‘Galerie des Theaters’, June 11th 2000
Nicola Hümpel formed her company four years ago at the Bauhaus in Dessau. Since then she has presented in the top league of independent theatre with some works containing very powerful images.. With variations on the theme „Modern times 2000“ the group, by way of body language, feels related to the anti-heroes - Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin - of the modernization of the 20’s and 30’s. Esther Slevogt, TAZ, June 7th 2000
The ensemble with its first three works has gained an outstanding reputation for strong images, nonverbal oriented performances with its charming, playful and absurd comic way of story telling. \Eggs on Earth\ takes the path between dance-theatre and living images turning everyday chit chat into an impressive exchange. They are in command of the art of serious comedy and maintain a well-tempered distance to their figures. ‘Eggs on Earth’ is the exposing of surreal observations, condensed and spun with great ability. Irene Batzinger, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, June 6th 2000, No. 130
Nico and the Navigators belong to the representatives of the second Sophiensaele generation... The stage is a multifunctional installation, a magic box from which various acrobatics and scenic surprises miraculously appear with a visually impressive sense of humour. Nicola Hümpels figures are, in their appearance, grotesque types who climb steadily into the comedic with choreography of simple gestures manipulated through over-exaggeration, slow motion and repetition. Like other great masters of the genre, Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton, the actors wear serious faces. Kathrin Tiedemann, TIP/ Berliner Magazine 2nd week of June 2001
The scenes abstract various steps of fitting in: humiliation, subjugation, deformation and dependency, abuse. The objects with which the actors fight are objects of resistance, which set the material society against its luck - like once with Harold Lloyd, Keaton or Chaplin. Of course like with Chaplin or Keaton, art provides the opportunity to take the hopelessness of the labourers’ world and raises it up to grander proportions. All of the static and weight disappears and the Sophiensaele appears to soar. MH/ Die Welt, July 6th 2001
…As in the previous, well admired productions, the young director Nicola Hümpel and her company convince especially through their formal confidence (in formal setting.). They have found their own incomparable style, reminding one of the LeCoq-school, yet looking in its originality and reduction for its companion. Matthias Ehlert, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, July 19th 2001
…In the last few years this group, which oscillates between dance, movement, and image-theatre, has played itself into the premier league of the \free scene… Esther Slevogt, die tageszeitung, July 16th 2001 …For the confectioner, citric-acid is a commuter between tart and sweet. It tickles the tip of the tongue and usually ends in your mouth, round as a polished gem, but sharp as glass. The young Berliner troupe, Nico and the Navigators, serve up a theatre sweet and sharp as sour-balls. The characters, drawn as if with Magic Marker, watch the sugar coating dissolve around their overlarge portions of good intentions, eaten away by an acerbic, daily existence, leaving only a precious, tiny rest. …Nicola Hümpel (concept, direction, costumes) and Oliver Proske (set design) are distant cousins to Pina Bausch (the human condition), Kraftwerk (the desperation) and Charles Schulz (what now, Charlie Brown?). Jean-Louis Perrier, Le Monde, March 26th 2002 …The ensemble with its first three works has gained an outstanding reputation for strong images, nonverbal oriented performances with its charming, playful and absurd comic way of story telling. Irene Batzinger, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
…The theatre group Nico and the Navigators is an heir of the experimental and avantgardistic theatre which changed the European and Northern American stages in the 20est century. A theatre which sets the staging over the spoken word, which is open for the use of different artistic languages and for which making sense is less important than the quality of the experience offered to the audience. Javier Mije, Diario de Sevilla, January 1st 2003
…All theatre friends who want to see the newest experimental productions of the most progressive European theatre are obliged to the direction of the Teatro Central for inviting the ensemble Nico and the Navigators from Berlin. Julio Martínez Velasco, January 27th 2003
Concept, direction, costumes: Nicola Hümpel Set design: Oliver Proske Light design: Peter Meier Sound: Maik Voss / Peter Göhler Performers: Verena Schonlau / Sinta Tamsjadi / Lyon Roque / Martin Clausen / Patric Schott / Lajos Talamonti / Julius Weiland
www.navigators.de
Coproduced by Nico and the Navigators and Sophiensæle.
