Two men live in a cramped space, transformed into a perfect machine: every piece of furniture conceals a function, every gesture is calculated to the millimetre. But something is missing in their ordered life. To fill the void they create a mechanical doll, which, however, takes on life, opinions, will. It is the beginning of an uneasy, exhilarating, catastrophic cohabitation. Inspired by the silent and surreal universe of Buster Keaton, Lebensraum (“living space”) è a jewel of physical theatre by Jakop Ahlbom.
The show is a perfect comic device: furniture that transforms, millimetric gags, visions that defy the laws of the stage. A modern slapstick comedy, accompanied live by the Dutch band Alamo Race Track, which blends the vintage elegance of silent films with contemporary rock energy. Presented for the first time in Italy at the Venice Biennale, Lebensraum is a poetic investigation into the balance between order and chaos, love and control, autonomy and dependence. A magnetic visual experience, wordless but full of meaning, in which the human being measures himself with the limits – and the wonders – of his own living space.