With
Suzan Boogaerdt, Vanessa Loibl, Toni Maercklin, Montse Majench, Jasper Middendorf, Ibadet Ramadani, Damian Rebgetz, Marie Rosa Tietjen, Dominic Santia, Bianca van der Schoot, Laurie Young

Having examined the inner lives of Jessica and Angela (presented at the Odéon in 2023), Susanne Kennedy explores Xenia’s psyche. Conceived as a pretend retrospective, The Work looks back at the  life and work of this recently deceased artist. Together with Markus Selg, the German director creates a virtual world full of avatars — with identical faces and pre-recorded voices — where the same traumatic memories are played out over and over again. Trapped in this infernal loop, the audience navigates this immersive show through the dislocated fragments of Xenia's memory, exploring with her the existential anxieties that cost her her life.

Cast

set design 
Markus Selg 

sound design, editing, artistic collaboration 
Richard Alexander 

video designer 
Rodrik Biersteker, Markus Selg 

costume designer 
Andra Dumitrascu 

lighting designer 
Kevin Sock 

dramaturgy 
Johanna Höhmann 

stage direction assistant 
Lara Weidemann

production 
Volksbühne am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz-Berlin

co-directed with
the Festival d'Automne as part of the Festival d'Automne à Paris

Five dates

1977 Born in Friedrichshafen, Germany

2011 Invited to work at the Münchner Kammerspiele, where she directed They Shoot Horses, Don't They?

2016 Creation of Medea.Matrix, at the Ruhrtriennale in Duisburg. First collaboration with visual artist Markus Selg.

2017 Presentation of Women in Trouble at Berlin's Volksbühne, a play exploring illness and death.

2023 Presentation of Angela (a strange loop) at the Odéon, Einstein on the Beach at La Villette, by Philip Glass, as part of the Festival d'Automne.