“A battle between David and Goliath” – this turn of phrase refers to the bible and is still used to describe a violent situation where a mostly weaker person or group is faced with a bigger, stronger opponent. Sometimes the underdog David wins in an unusual and unexpected way, but often enough, the battle ends with a victory of the giant Goliath, despite all resistance.
For her devised play Die Geschichte von Goliat und David, director Ayşe Güvendiren explores the myth about this duel and transfers it to contemporary zones of conflict. Güvendiren wanders across the extensive cultural and political fields of Turkey and Germany which this this myth of two unequal opponents has created. She tells of competing memories and stories of war, displacement and torture, investigating how the story of violence continues into our present times without losing sight of the fact that you only fight when there is still a hope to be free.
Ayşe Güvendiren studied law, theatre studies and art history before she began her training as a theatre director at Munich’s Otto-Falckenberg-Schule. She won the 2021 Körber Studio Junge Regie for her graduation production R-Faktor. Das Unfassbare.