History — be it that of the earth or of humanity — currently tends to be viewed as consisting of a linear sequence of distinct periods. But what if these stages did not just constitute a chronology of progress — what if experiences repeated themselves cyclically, recurrently? Becoming and decaying, birth and death, rise and fall. Does human civilisation also experience seasons? Perhaps the cycle of formation and decay is not only inscribed in the history of the earth and the universe, but also in human history. Yael Ronen takes this way of viewing our world and its history as the starting point for the new play she is devising together with the Schaubühne ensemble. Do historical patterns repeat themselves? Why, over the course of the centuries, do certain phenomena seem to occur simultaneously in different places independently of each other? Do various generations cyclically repeat the experiences that others have had before them? Do we always end up returning to the sites of our worst wounds, traumas, but also to an innocence we never really lost? What season does our society currently find itself in?
With last Season’s »Bucket List«, a musical hallucination about an overpowering present, Yael Ronen recently celebrated her premiere at the Schaubühne. This production, which she created together with the composer and songwriter Shlomi Shaban, was invited to the Theatertreffen 2024.
Yael Ronen was born in Jerusalem in 1976. She studied playwriting at HB Studio in New York and directing at the Seminar HaKibbutzim in Tel Aviv. Yael Ronen initially presented plays she had created in Israel at the Schaubühne as part of the FIND festival. In collaboration with the Schaubühne ensemble and Palestinian and Israeli actors, she developed the plays »Dritte Generation« (2009) and »The Day Before the Last Day« (2011). From 2015 to 2023, she was resident director at the Maxim Gorki Theater. Since the 2023/24 season,
Artists/Collaborators: (Musik), Stefano Di Buduo (Video), Amit Epstein (Kostüme), Yaniv Fridel (Musik), Nils Haarmann (Dramaturgie), Yael Ronen (Regie), Yael Ronen (Autorin), Magda Willi (Bühne), Christoph Gawenda (Mit), Carolin Haupt (Mit), Eva Meckbach (Mit), Stefan Stern (Mit)