NO MAN IS AN iSLAND (English version)
by Post Theater
English / German + surtitles German / English
We witness the fascinating birth of a queer, humanoid robot that is supposed to embody the cultural heritage of its creators. Although they fear for the safety and survival of their home, an island 160 kilometers off the Chinese mainland, it has a sense of humor. But who exactly does this android resemble? What role should it play in the fate and future of Taiwan? And is it even allowed to have a mind of its own?
Post Theater and Taiwanese performer Po-Fu Wu have teamed up to tell this imaginative science meets fiction story of an android. He wants to defend the values of a free Taiwan. In doing so, he experiences extraordinary things, makes contact with people in a very lively way and ultimately comes up against the limits of his autonomy.
The amazingly lifelike Taiwanese android plays his own engineer, as well as the actor he is modeled on - Po-Fu Wu. The multiple overwriting and juxtaposition of original and replica are the playful core of this production, which revolves narratively around the future of a threatened
democracy and evokes the crisis of artificial intelligence.
With Po Fu Wu Artistic direction Hiroko Tanahashi / Max Schumacher Music Sibin Vassilev Supertitles Jingyun Li Co-production TD Berlin as part of the Monologfestival 2023 Supported by the four-year festival funding of the Berlin Senate Department for Culture and Social Cohesion
Post Theater works at the intersection of theater and technology. Founded in New York, the company soon moved to Berlin. Under the direction of Hiroko Tanahashi and Max Schumacher, over 50 plays have been presented in 60 cities in 20 countries worldwide, e.g. 2019 "Nonuments", in which the audience was able to co-design a virtual monument in Taiwan via smartphones, 2021 "Spookai", a parcours about the soulfulness of things, 2022 "SepulTour", a piece about burial cultures in a heterogeneous society and "Fuchsbau" about foxes and humans, followed in summer 2023 by "Animal Intelligence" about smart animals and their relationship to AI. In December 2024, the immersive theater experience "Trojan Horse" will premiere at TD. www.posttheater.com