Welcome to a living room that turns into a smouldering scene of remembering and forgetting. Here, between a grandmother suffering from Alzheimer’s disease and her daughter, worlds collide: an interplay of anger, sadness, despair and disorientation. What remains when memories fade and the past becomes an unreliable companion?
»Damage Done« takes the audience on a journey through the fragility of memory and the construction of identity in a world that wants to save everything. The starting point is private video recordings from the family archive that were never intended for the public. But it is precisely this intimate closeness that challenges us to pause and ask questions: What does this material show – and what does it do to us who view it?
Through a collaborative process, the recordings are dissected, reinterpreted and translated into images, movements and dialogues. Alternative forms of communication emerge, transforming the stage into a multi-perspective space in which remembering and forgetting are negotiated in equal measure.
The performance is part of a cycle of work by theater and filmmaker Tobias Yves Zintel, in which he deals with various facets of his own family history: in »Mental Radio« (2012) and »Autistische Spiele« (2020/2021) he explores aspects of neurodiversity and social exclusion; In »das ist dunkel, das ist hell« (2017) he sheds light on the fragility of memory and the construction of spaces of remembrance in the context of the Nazi era, family and the narratives that emerge from it, interlocking them with contemporary perspectives; in »Damage Done« (2025) he deals with dementia, ruptures in memory and family dynamics. His works combine personal biography with socio-critical reflection and question established narratives through a multi-layered, cross-media artistic practice.
The performance on 22.02. will be followed by an artist talk with Theaterscoutings Berlin.
CONTENT NOTES
Dementia, memory loss and loss of control, family conflicts and emotional overload, physical and psychological violence, recurring speech patterns, scenes of helplessness and disorientation, high emotional intensity. Use of explicit archive material, reflection on ethical questions and individual boundaries. Glaring lighting effects, strobe flashes, demanding acoustic design, dense atmosphere.
A production by Tobias Yves Zintel in co-operation with Ballhaus Ost. Funded by the Pankow District Office of Berlin Office for Further Education and Culture, Department of Art and Culture.
