As part of the online durational festival »It’s about time«.
»So lange man über mich redet und meine Geschichte erzählt wird, so lange bin ich nicht tot.« (Margot)
On April 1, we, the Markus&Markus Theaterkollektiv, met Margot for the first time. On May 22, we attended her funeral. In our production “Ibsen: Ghosts”, we worked with a protagonist who had planned her own death with a Swiss euthanasia organization. We accompanied 81-year-old Margot during her last days in Düsseldorf, as she organized her things, made her last visits to the doctor, held farewell parties and finally made her way to Basel. We captured all of this on camera.
We spent three of the last four weeks of her life with Margot. 80 hours of video footage were created during this time. On the evening of our first long day together, she asked us: “Are you staying for dinner?” – and we stayed. The next day, an excursion was on the agenda. But first we had coffee to start things off. On some days, the meal served to recharge our batteries. The day often ended with time together at the dining table. Our aim was always to stick to one meal a day. But this plan rarely worked out. Meals structured our days with Margot.
We now invite you to these meals. Come and join us at the table for a cookie, a drink or the whole meal. For a minute, a meal or the full program. “Are you staying for dinner?” comprises nine meals in a blunt directors’ cut. The staging before the staging.
April 2024 will mark the tenth anniversary of this meeting. The meals will therefore take place online in April on nine days at the original time – just ten years later. At the end, all the meals will be served one after the other on a weekend. You’ll be given a shopping list for each meal in advance – so that you can join us at the table for potato salad, König Pilsener, coffee, cake and crank cheese.
And now we ask: “Are you staying for dinner?”