Simon Helbling
director, storyteller
Theater, 2014-15
Extract from the play:
Prof. Brugger: It is order, which strikes us, and if there is no order, we invent one. Because we are trained since ancient times to not miss a single sabre-tooth tiger, so we bend the biggest chaos for it to make any sense. Those who are afraid of the dark forest, tend to see ghosts and creatures in the branches, those who are very religious and Marie believers, are more likely to see the Virgin Marie in the melted cheese of their pizza, with a garlic nose and capers eyes. And we all tend to say “this can’t be a coincidence!” if we have dreamt how poor aunt Trudy dies and the day after, she died for real. But we are generous and forget about the five other times we dreamt of her passing, where she didn’t die the day after. We are generous as well, if aunt Trudy doesn’t die after our dream but her puppy gets hit by a car. Well, isn’t that at least a bit supernatural? Together with the science communicators Dr. Michael Röthlisberger and Gian Andri Casutt from Anda, the actor Yannick Schmuki and Dr. Peter Brugger, professor of neuropsychology at the University of Zurich, we developed a project about the dark side of the brain. We went after the question what happens in our brain, if we have an encounter of the third kind. Or why do we tend so stubbornly to see in any coincidence a meaningful event or a sign for something. It became an unusual science show. The scientist Peter Brugger has been challenged on stage by the actor Yannick Schmuki as an occultist from the past century. The main question was: Who is in charge? A ghost, the brain or … ourselves?
Cast & Crew
Cast: Peter Brugger & Yannick Schmuki Director: Simon Helbling Written by: Simon Helbling Producer: Anda Scientainment, Michi Röthlisberger & Gian Andri Casutt Stage Design: Felicitas Dagostin Costume Design: Carola Bachmann Helbling Video: Andi Meyer Lighting Designer: Markus Brunn Music: Christoph Binder
