Future Shock
performART students at Alanus University reinterpret Kleist in the digital present

Literally overwhelmed by technological progress – that is how the first railway passengers felt two hundred years ago at a top speed of 48 kilometres per hour. Heinrich von Kleist also explores this feeling in his novella “The Earthquake in Chile” – this time as a reaction to a natural disaster. Today, we are experiencing a digital explosion that seems to catapult us straight into a science fiction film. The students of Alanus University of Arts and Social Sciences examine this “future shock,” these exceptional physical and emotional states. They explore the body as a repository of trauma, release emotions through dance, use language as a tool and a weapon, and playfully envision new realities.

Kleist’s novella touches on fundamental questions of human existence that are just as relevant today as they were at the beginning of the 19th century: How do people respond to a devastating catastrophe? How does solidarity emerge – and how can it turn into hatred? “Future Shock” does not retell Kleist’s text, but instead makes visible social mechanisms that are at work in the here and now. At its core is above all the question: What happens after the shock? Does self-destruction follow, or is there a chance for a different, better future?

A production by the performART degree programme at Alanus University of Arts and Social Sciences.

Performed by:
Gvantsa Akhvlediani, Rosa Andorfer, Toni Diegelmann, Anabella Fingerhut, Mojtaba Izadizad, Kaya Lichtenauer, Ronja Maerten, Sarah Oettrich, Rosa Reisinger, Justin Rohner, Molly Wade, Daniela Weingärtner, Laxmi Wolf

Directed by:
Annika Schilling, Ilona Pászthy

Venue:
Theater im Ballsaal
Frongasse 9, 53121 Bonn

Performance date:
16 May 2026, 8:00 PM

Tickets:
€17 regular, €9 reduced
Book online: https://theater-im-ballsaal.de/
0228 / 79 79 01, karten@theater-im-ballsaal.de

Poster image: Alanus University / Anabella Fingerhut