DE

Ovid's dream

In the Garden of Transformations

In his narrative poem Metamorphoses, the Roman poet Ovid transforms people into trees, into stones, birds and flowers – into non-human beings. In Ovid’s Dream, dancers explore these mysteries with scenes of contemporary dance that revolve around the power of human passions.

“Her soft white bosom was ringed in a layer of bark, her hair was turned into foliage, her arms into branches. The feet that had run so nimbly were sunk into sluggish roots; her head was confined in a treetop; and all that remained was her beauty.” Metamorphoses, Book 1, ‘Apollo and Daphne’, Verses 449-553

In Ovid’s Dream, a production made for parks, Theater Anu embark on a poetic and sensory exploration of these metamorphoses and create a Garden of Transformations. Visitors encounter the discarded husks of the transformed: tongues of flame dart out of shoes; garments are reshaped into lamps; the fabric of clothes is unravelled and spun into new threads, entwined amongst trees, woven into massive cocoons. Visitors are free to wander through this magic place for two and a half hours, witnessing the metamorphoses and listening to the stories.

In nine scenes spread over different locations, dance, shadow-play and light-effects, installations and sound-collages create evocative images and tell familiar and unfamiliar stories, of Narcissus, Orpheus and Eurydice, Pygmalion, Phaeton, as well as the Tree of Forgetting, and Rosa, the woman who loved a tree. Seven dancers, from Italy, Spain and Germany, explore the mysteries of the metamorphoses. Their performances, lasting around ten minutes, are performed continually in a loop. The production allows the audience to get right up close to the action and yet can still be enjoyed by several thousand visitors in one night.

“Passages from Ovid’s poems sound out over ethereal tones from loudspeakers while, suffused in a magical light, dancers enact the transformations which will grant the figures in Ovid’s Dream eternal life. Some visitors may well start to ponder, but anyone who responds to this production with their guts not their head will become immersed in a Shakespearian summer night’s dream and experience a new dimension of theatre.” Kölnische Rundschau

For twenty years now Theater Anu have been exploring the potential of poetic theatre in public spaces. Under the direction of Bille Behr and Stefan Behr, and in collaboration with a variety of artists, the company have played in parks, squares and many non-theatrical locations such as tunnels, churches and industrial halls. Their installations and performances create unique spaces of experience and memory which invite visitors to immerse themselves in imaginary worlds, to be enchanted and transformed.

Every year, 40,000 visitors witness Theater Anu’s sensuous, unassuming productions in squares and parks and other open spaces. The company creates touring productions or also commissioned work for special events.

Please find here a brochure detailing all the current touring shows of Theater Anu.