How does it feel to grow up in one of Europe’s largest cohesive concrete constructions – Hanover’s Ihme-Zentrum? BETONKLOTZ 2000 tells the story of young people for whom this building, originally intended as an utopian urban concept, means social inequality and reality. Between poverty and gentrification, a search for prospects and an escape forward (wherever forward may be), the youngsters look at the block and see: parents who are doing their best. Friendships. A crumbling foundation. But most of all: a home.
“A city within a city, this was the idea, so many stories stacked on top of each other.” In her first text for the stage, author Jona Rausch looks at a construction that is so much more than an iconic, slightly dilapidated showcase building of the city of Hanover. The gazes that shaped the Ihme-Zentrum since the 1970s and let it crumble in later years are as diverse as the worlds of the characters that Jona Rausch has peopled it with. They are delicate, loud, and at times they overwhelm us with their relentless honesty.
Director Goldie Röll will lend appearance to these voices and celebrate her Hanover-debut with this show at Ballhof Zwei.