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Hellcat

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Directed by: Shade Théret and Magdalena Mitterhofer

Sound: Alexander Iezzi
Stage: Joseph Bourgois

Video (Vienna) : Jonathan Hörnig
Poster: Rob Kulisek
H+M: Sophia Mittherhofer, Hannah Brugger
Photo + Video (Berlin) : Emma Dudlyke
Curatorial (Vienna): Lewon Heublein
Co-produced by Tanzquartier Wien 2023
Curatorial (Berlin): Léon Kruijswijk / Curatorial Assistence Nikolas Brummer

PREMIERE: Rakete Festival 2023 (5. - 6.05.2023)
Pogo Bar, KW Institute for contemporary art Berlin (13.07.23)

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Warped and forced back inwards, rage implodes as frustration, obsession or psychosis.
With Hellcat, Shade Théret and Magdalena Mitterhofer investigate implosions of female rage leading to uncontrolled expressive moments, if not outbursts.
They depart from two confessional references:
fragments from Anne Sexton’s Live or Die (1966) are restructured following the interview format of Paolo Pasolini’s Comizi d’amore (1965).
These sources respectively deal with mental illnesses and mother-daughter relationships, and stances on love and sexuality from representatives of a variety of social brackets in Italy at the time. 
The opposing spheres on stage – the domestic and the public – initially present the two characters as each other’s antithesis. 
Mitterhofer sits relaxed in a house-like structure, and laughs manically. Dressed in a red silky dress adorned with glitters,
Théret’s movements on an elevated stage element are slow and determined, breathing audibly controlled.
As the choreography unravels, a dialectical pull and push happens several times for various, ambiguous reasons.
As such, Théret and Mitterhofer explore origins of destruction, hysteria, violence, and intimate resistance.
Ultimately, they point out shifting dynamics between female subjects, set within the larger defining mechanisms of society. 
(Léon Kruijswijk)    

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