"Paradise" by Thomas Köck | flooding/starving/playing

"All those moments will be lost in time, like… tears in rain."

A torrent – of materials, images, and recollections that never were – springs from the stage, pours into the stalls, smashes down the balcony boxes, bursts through the walls, and surges out into the city. This is a requiem for capitalism. A theatrical chorus tells the story of Western civilization through the history of colonialism and the exploitation of nature. The world is destroyed, the paradise was all so want is lost, and the happiness we were promised floats bloated nearby. Markets destabilize, the first explorers still seek their lost paradise, and a dancer twirls alone on stage. This is an evacuation alert. The dawn is not some new beginning but a warning cry. Welcome to the future.

—Katerina Giannopoulou

Saturday 30 October

After-performance talk with Thomas Köck

In English with simultaneous interpretation in Greek

Thomas Köck was born in Austria in 1986 and studied scenic writing in Berlin. His works for the theater have garnered numerous awards, including the prize for best German-language play of the year. His “Klimatrilogie” (“climate trilogy”) consists of the works “flooding paradise”, “starving paradise”, and “playing paradise”.

In his “Climate Trilogy” (“Klimatrilogie”, 2017: “flooding paradise”, “starving paradise”, and “playing paradise”), the 35-year-old writer Thomas Köck denounces the climate crisis, colonialism, and the rise of the far right across Europe, adopting the position that neoliberalism is a contemporary manifestation of the 19th-century colonial mindset.

“Paradise” is a new formulation of his trilogy, adapted by Katerina Giannopoulou and her dramaturg Grigoris Liakopoulos to touch upon Greek realities.