Freya Treutmann (Berlin, Germany): 5475 Scratches
- duration: 30 min
- watch: 8th December 2018 at 4pm UTC
DESCRIPTION: Alternative micro-theatre play written and directed by Freya Treutmann for the monologue collection “Classics”. Prison.Trapped.Routine.Machine.KeepGoing.NoChoices. And suddenly you are free. What now? This experimental performance, formerly performed under the title “Scratch – A Lifetime”, is based on the character of Sisyphus from Greek Mythology and explores the question of how our identity is shaped by our habits, our way of living, even though it might be not a chosen one. What happens if you suddenly lose a part of your identity you used to hate? What makes us feel home and secure in life? Does freedom always means you are free? What defines who you are? 15 years SHE spent in prison, counting the days, leaving scratches on the walls, living the routine in prison, pushing through it, even though it seemed endless – hopeless. She was alone, no visitors, no phone calls, the family disappointed. Every day seemed the same, repetition, routine and no choice to give up. But suddenly she is out. The perspective changes and suddenly she sees the prison from outside – a view she never dared to imagine. But what now? Where to go? What to do? She searches the routine outside of the prison walls, tries to find back to a secure feeling similar to the one that she knew from all the strictly structured years in prison she hated so much. With stepping outside these walls she lost her identity, left behind the person she was. She doesn’t know where she belongs to in this this new world of freedom. In the end she isn’t sure anymore what home means to her – or freedom. She finds her mother being stuck in a routine as well, a mother who never came to look for her – and in the end she only sees one way out. She needs to find a way to go home. To go back where she belongs, where she knows who she is. She needs to go back to prison. In this monologue the idea of an alienation effect is presented through different circular elements such as CDs as props, the particularity of lighting and the form of the speech to show as well the character’s alienation from his identity and his personality. Some more naturalistic parts are interrupted frequently with rhythmic, repetitive, abstract “loops” of speech and movement that demonstrate the idea of circularity, routine and hopelessness. The character is functioning like a machine, not being able to take personal choices or to break the routine, but also is safe in knowing what to do. This idea is being supported by minimal lighting just with a torch that also underlines the idea of an inside and an outside, circularity and limitation in freedom, but at the same time shows honesty, security and intimacy. When SHE leaves the prison, normal room light is used to give a similar, unexpected impression of distraction to the audience.
BIO: Freya Treutmann is an actress, performer and writer from Berlin, Germany. She graduated with Distinction from Institute of the Arts Barcelona with a Master Degree in Acting and Theatre, rewarded by Liverpool John Moores University. Having a background also in communication-, media- and language studies from Freie Universität Berlin and in dance and singing, Freya aims to experiment with forms and structures of writing and performing, challenging and breaking linear and one-dimensional ways of storytelling. She performed her own plays SCRATCH – A LIFETIME and EVIDENCE OF CODES as an artist in residency at Charioteer Theatre Company in Edinburgh in August 2018. SCRATCH – A LIFETIME, now under the title \”5475 Scratches\” is a forthcoming publication in a special issue dedicated to classic rewriting in the journal “Mise en Abyme. International Journal of Comparative Literature and Arts”. Her academic essay about her play EVIDENCE OF CODES will be published together with the script in a peer-reviewed journal. Apart from writing, creating and performing her own projects, Freya works as an actress, dancer and singer for various productions for film, TV and on stage. Recently she performed as a puppeteer in “The Museum of Stolen Objects”, an adaptation on Ajax by Sophocles in Acker Stadt Palast Berlin, and she plays in protagonist roles in various children musicals at Galli Theater Berlin. Her international credits as a performer include: IDENTITY – A COLLABORATIVE PROJECT, directed by Laura Pasetti FAR AWAY by Caryll Churchill, directed by Drew Mulligan; FORGED COUPON adapted from Lev Tolstoy, directed by Andrew McKinnon; CLOUDS by Aristophanes, directed by Oscar Valsecchi; A CHILD IN TIME adapted from the novel by Ian McEwan, directed by Valentina Temussi; LOVE CAN BE CRUEL written and directed by Giovanni Meola; BENEATH THE GAZE by Joshua Sailo; SCHWERINER SCHLOSSGARTENLUST directed by Sina Haarmann; FABELHAFTE WEIHNACHTEN, directed by Ludger Lemper; HERBSTZAUBER, directed by Jacqueline Schibor; ANNIE, directed by Vivian Lüdorf, Her film and TV credits include: ILLUSION by Alexander Garms; OREGON PINE by Nikolai Max Hahn; GUTE ZEITEN, SCHLECHTE ZEITEN by Herwig Fischer; MEIN SOHN LARA by Andreas Ruhmland. Freya is interested in working in international contexts and therefore gained experience with different projects in Germany, UK, USA, Chile, Indonesia and Spain. She is represented by the agency “Bahl For Actors”: www.bahl-for-actors.com/freya-treutmann ARTIST’S WEBSITE