Attractive forces

from Mirza Metin

More than 4,000 kilometers lie between Bonn and Şengal – and in Mirza Metin’s piece, which the fringe ensemble premiered in May 2018, these 4,000 kilometers also initially lie between Şêrîn and Ferhad. Without knowing each other, without even knowing about each other, the two set out on a long journey on the same day: she to return from Bonn to where she was born, he to leave war and destruction behind. Their paths cross in Istanbul. They fall in love. But they will not be dissuaded from their goals. And yet they find in love a new place of longing.

Frank Heuel got to know the Kurdish author, actor and director Mirza Metin during his twelve-month fellowship from the Kunststiftung NRW in Istanbul. There he worked with him as a writer and actor in the production “Zwischenhalt“. As part of an artist-in-residence program of the ifa (Institute for Foreign Cultural Relations), Mirza Metin spent over a year in Cologne/Bonn and worked with the fringe ensemble.

“Attractive Forces” is a commissioned work that had already begun with research in 2017. For this purpose had Mirza Metin conducted and recorded numerous interviews with Kurds of different ages in Bonn and Cologne. The conversations were primarily about individual life stories, questions about origins, about the reason for being here, about hopes and wishes. Two of the life stories that seemed particularly exemplary to Metin and touched him in their intensity are reflected in the two characters in the play.

 


Sponsored by: Federal City of Bonn, Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia and the Institute for Foreign Cultural Relations.