Pfauen
414 BC. Two Athenians set out to found a new city in which money is thrown out like dirt so as not to be suffocated by it. They end up at the royal palace of the birds, who live in hostility with the humans. Pretending to be birds, the two Athenians suggest building a city in the sky. The Parliament of Birds discusses and accepts their proposal. A “cloud-cuckoo-land” is the common vision for a city where all birds find a home, and protection from humans and gods is guaranteed.
1963. Director Alfred Hitchcock shoots the horror classic THE BIRDS, in which birds descend upon the small coastal town of Bodega Bay. The eerie, and over the course of the film, deadly attacks by the birds masterfully illustrate nature striking back when its habitat is threatened.
Director Lilja Rupprecht playfully links and updates these two works with performers from Theater HORA and Zurich’s Schauspielhaus. They set out on a common search for a “cloud-cuckoo-land” of our time.