Stefanie Sourial
FREAK
In her solo performance FREAK Stefanie Sourial deals with the connection between repulsion and its socio-cultural origin. A therapy session sets the stage for the story of patient Valerie IX, who has been afflicted by unbearable repulsion and aggressions towards other people all her life. The audience that assumes the role of therapist hears about her horror of every-day noises, disgusting gum chewers, impertinently harrumphing seat neighbours and the overtly aggressive outbursts that inevitably follow. Trying to fathom this curious overreaction, she reflects family histories of proper conduct and old traditions and describes the futile struggle of forcibly learned etiquettes and rigid norms. She snuffles her attempt at finding her own identity up her nose and spits it out of her mouth. And as she does that self-analysing listeners to these nauseating deliberations may well encourage unpleasant parallels with their own behaviour. FREAK has Stefanie Sourial walking on the thin line between repulsion and excitement, self-control and madness, good manners and uncontrolled violence, thus giving rise to ambivalent humour.
Stefanie Sourial finished the international theatre school Jacques Lecoq in Paris and has been working as a freelance performance artist and musician in Vienna and London since 2010. In addition to her own solo projects she is part of the London-based international company Theatre Ad Infinitum, appears as a burlesque performer with the group CLUB BURLESQUE BRUTAL (2009-2014) and directs or choreographs fellow artists.
Idea, Direction, Performance, Sound, Text Stefanie Sourial Dramaturgical Support Moira Hille
A Co-production by Stefanie Sourial and Freischwimmer. Kindly supported by God’s Entertainment/EMMA7-Award.