Sofia is blushing. Of course, she is not the only one. Some people blush when they are ashamed, some don’t show the blush and others are ashamed without blushing.
According to what we know, a human being already starts feeling shame at the age of 18 months. Even before we can say “I”, we seem to notice that we will depend on the judgement and the view of others in what we are for all our lives – and we feel shame.
But what exactly is shame? How does it start? How does it show? How do we deal with it? We are ashamed of small, personal things: our financial situation, our bodies, even our origins. To say nothing of the phenomenon of digital shaming. But there seem to be people who are shameless. However, there are plausible reasons to believe that a society without shame would be better off than one where it plays an important part.
Antje Pfundtner is a dancer and choreographer. With her team “Antje Pfundtner in Gesellschaft (APiG)”, she develops theatre pieces and creates spaces for co-operation. In 2020, her play Ich bin nicht du received the FAUST-Prize in the category of “Director Theatre for Children and Young People”. Die Höhle auf Erden (2022) was her first production at Schauspiel Hannover. With affection and her very own sense of humour, dancer and choreographer Antje Pfundtner explores the sore spot of shame with her company and her audience and asks: What will come afterwards?