A man in white clothes wearily rests his head on the thigh of a man in a red short suit.

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Can injuries be healed by voluntarily repeating them? In &ldquo;Double Serpent&rdquo;, Ersan Mondtag interweaves sexuality and trauma into a surreal thriller of powerful imagery, where violence is never shown and is still omnipresent.

Double Serpent

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timur-frey

Frey, Timur

lasse-boje-haye-weber

Weber, Lasse Boje Haye

felix-strueven

Strüven, Felix

jonas-grundner-culemann

Grundner-Culemann, Jonas

sam-max

Max, Sam

luis-august-krawen

Krawen, Luis August

teresa-vergho

Vergho, Teresa

<a href="${link:{uuid:{dc52a96b-6d1a-45b1-8cc7-c3660aff1d46},repository:{artists},path:{/bfs-mediathek/M/ersan-mondtag}}}">Ersan Mondtag</a>&nbsp;– Director Alexander Naumann&nbsp;– Stage Design Teresa Vergho&nbsp;– Costume Design Benedikt Brachtel&nbsp;– Music Rainer Casper / Steffen Hilbricht&nbsp;– Lighting Design Luis August Krawen&nbsp;– Video Till Briegleb&nbsp;– Dramaturgy<h4>Cast</h4>Timur Frey&nbsp;– Connor Lasse Boje Haye Weber&nbsp;– Felix Felix Str&uuml;ven&nbsp;– Fake Dad Jonas Grundner-Culemann&nbsp;– Eric 1 / Eric 2 Extras Hessisches Staatstheater

ersan-mondtag

Mondtag, Ersan

till-briegleb

Briegleb, Till

rainer-casper

Casper, Rainer

steffen-hillbricht

Hilbricht, Steffen

benedikt-brachtel

Brachtel, Benedikt

alexander-naumann

Naumann, Alexander

Can injuries be healed by voluntarily repeating them? In “Double Serpent”, Ersan Mondtag interweaves sexuality and trauma into a surreal thriller of powerful imagery, where violence is never shown and is still omnipresent.

Bonds, cuts and blows are part of Connor&rsquo;s and Felix&rsquo; love life. When an ex-partner accuses Felix of abuse, Connor is taken back to his childhood. Memories of traumatic experiences are awakened: a young Connor in a damp cellar, isolated, eavesdropping on the illegal machinations of his organ-dealing stepfather. A harrowing thriller unfolds in a greenish, dimly lit house of spirits. Almost incorporeally, the actors move through the horror-esque world of the production, with various time-levels flowing into each other. Through language, sound, lighting and impressive images, Ersan Mondtag and his team create a suspense-filled atmosphere where the limits between reality and fantasy, consent and coercion become blurred.

<h3>Statement of the Jury</h3>

This play fits Ersan Mondtag&rsquo;s nightmarish theatre language like a glove. In the text by dramatist Sam Max from New York, meaning is assembled like a puzzle where all the pieces find their places only at the end. Mondtag&rsquo;s staging is peopled by stylised, artificial characters whose shells break open bit by bit. Biographical facts come to light, levels of time and reality become more relatable. The balance of power, on the other hand, appears more and more obscure. What are we watching in Alexander Naumann&rsquo;s fantasy-art noveau set? Is it a consensual gay BDSM-relationship or sexual abuse? Young Connor is at the centre of fascinating loops of light, sound and slow motion, where violence is ever present &ndash; even though it is never displayed, not even in Luis August Krawen&rsquo;s computer-animated videos. This is no show for voyeurs: Instead, this artistic synthesis is disturbing in a unique, almost ceremonial manner, and it develops a hypnotic slipstream.

<a href="https://mediathek.berlinerfestspiele.de/en/theatertreffen/2025/statement-double-serpent">To juror Sabine Leucht&rsquo;s video statement on &ldquo;Double Serpent&rdquo; (in German)</a>

<a href="${link:{uuid:{36fd61a6-b6fd-4882-bce9-d34e3b3df56f},repository:{dam},path:{/bfs-de/indizierte-pdfs/DE/Theatertreffen/2025/tt25_programmheft_double_serpent.pdf}}}">Programme Booklet</a>&nbsp;(pdf, 2.3 MB)

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