3 Days to Liberation II

Available here: COMBI PASS SATURDAY AT ROTER SALON: €22 / reduced €12 / valid for both events on Saturday, 13 December: HAPPY BIRTHDAY (performance) at 6:00 p.m. and The Stage as Witness – Artists between Worlds (panel) at 7:30 p.m.

Part of the programme
3 DAYS TO LIBERATION II
(Statement and program)
12–14 December 2025
Conceived & curated by Maryam Palizban
Presented by CONSTANZA MACRAS / DORKY PARK

A stage play for the beautiful spirits

Are borders really the origin of originality and identity? The philosopher Giorgio Agamben challenges this assumption and consequently refuses to recognize the existence of ‘refugees’ altogether. In a radical critique of human rights and the order of the nation-state, he raises the question: What are the real borders we find ourselves in? Thus shining a light on all those who challenge the purpose of borders.

In the piece HAPPY BIRTHDAY, the director Sahar Rezaei stands alone on the stage, at first merely a figure on which confetti rains down. As the spectators enter, the stage seems to transform into a framed painting. The figure waiting for the audience is part of this frame. From the point of view of existential philosophy, she tries to spell out the meaning of this picture and recalls her own visual experience with images. Her personal story, bearing universal traits, takes us on a journey through the last thirty years of her life, from Tehran and protests to Prague and Frankfurt, in a quest for liberation resonating with today’s struggles against fascism, oppression and geocides around the globe. HAPPY BIRTHDAY is dedicated to all the beautiful spirits that are, that were and that will be. It’s a happy-birthday greeting to the spirits who have made history although their images cannot be found in any archive.

Sahar Rezaei is a theater and film director, who was born and raised in Iran. Starting off with engineering at the Polytechnic University of Tehran, she later studied directing at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Frankfurt. Rezaei explores everyday motifs, spatial structure and bodies in their relation to current political issues in her interdisciplinary projects as a writer, photographer and director. Works have been presented at Frankfurt‘s Mousonturm, Schauspiel Hannover, Staatstheater Marburg, Studio NAXOS, Divadlo Archa in Prague and at Divadlo Flora in Olomouc.

CREDITS

Writer, director, actor Sahar Rezaei
Video & coaching Samuel Simon
Dramaturgy Björn Fischer
Costumes Mareike Wehrmann
Music Sara Trawöger
Video technology Greta Markurt

German | English surtitles