Bagadelnia

The play-game “Bagadelnia” consists of eight different yet closely connected stories from a single care home for the elderly. The actors invite the audience to choose which stories they want to see. “Bagadelnia” tells of people who have lived different lives, had different experiences and fates, but ultimately found themselves at one shared point. The fact that the play’s characters are residents of a care home for the elderly does not mean that the audience will be immersed in sadness and pity. Quite the opposite. The actors will reveal the amusing, almost fairy-tale-like adventures, experiences and discoveries of grey-haired heroes, old romantics and former Soviet-era hippies. After all, when you grow old and everything seems less colourful, some things simply have to be imagined. The play brings together different worldviews, religions and opposing political views, but most often it is a person’s encounter with themselves, with someone nearby and with their memories. As the residents of the care home themselves say, a bagadelnia is the vestibule of heaven. And here is what Jim Morrison of “The Doors”, who appears in the play, says about this vestibule: “The doors of perception are cleansed here and everything appears to man as it is, infinite” (help for those who do not understand English). The creators invite the audience to open the door to that vestibule together, because perhaps there they will be able to glimpse what comes next and what has already been left behind. What if the five old people who appear in the play really have opened that door through their long lives and extreme experiences, and learned something they could share with us? What if? Premiere: 10 and 11 November 2018. Funded by: Publications: