prick, prick, boom

March 1988, 22:30 at the neurological clinic of the Charité in East Berlin: A young woman holds a syringe to the neck of a nurse. “I am a woman, aren’t I? What do you think?” she had asked on her first day on the ward. Now three police officers and the chief physician are standing in front of the door to her room. The doctor did not record her answer at the time. She also does not document whether the young woman is holding the needle out of resistance or revenge, whether she wants retaliation, chaos, or simply an answer to her question.

Rage is involuntary. Those who feel it can be consumed by it and may hurt those who do not share it. Rage is rupture, desire, and a sign that reality and one’s own existence cannot easily be reconciled. When rage connects us, it creates movement. In «prick, prick, boom» four performers invoke bodies beyond reason. They stop avoiding conflict, stop ducking, stop apologizing, and begin to imagine militancy and anger without consequences. Berlin has long been a historical site of the criminalization and erasure of queer life and of attempts to disrupt queer collective existence. Traces of disobedience can be found in archive boxes and files, between the lines of discharge reports, arrest protocols, and newspaper notices.

Lou Thabart, Paula Pau, Adrian Marie Blount and River Roux rehearse derailment as a form of resistance. Handbags become striking tools, high heels turn into projectiles, braids into whips. Remaining calm is no longer possible, and patience is something no one can afford anymore. “I have already asked. I cannot demand,” the young woman once wrote on the ward. What lies beyond asking?

River Roux is a performance artist, writer and dancer on the pole. Her work centres the connections between labor, gender, care and sex. She was part of the Berlin Stripper‘s Collective from 2021 to 2023. In 2024 Mendes & Roux developed the solo JUICE, since a part of the repertoire at Volksbühne am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz. The performance was invited to auawirleben Festival Bern, Schwankhalle Bremen, Gessnerallee Zürich, 6 Tage Frei Festival and Kammerspiele Munich. Most recently, she co-conceptualised ANDROGYNOUS in collaboration with Lola Arias at the Maxim Gorki Theatre Berlin. In the season 26/27 Roux will be joining the Ensemble of Volksbühne am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz.

Bibiana Mendes has been living between Portugal and Germany since the age of 11. She initially studied Applied Language, Culture, and Translation Studies at the University of Mainz before completing her Performing Arts studies at ESTC in Lisbon. During her studies, she worked as a producer for Isabel Teixeira, Simone Mina, and Christiane Jatahy. Bibiana assisted with directing in Tübingen, at the Staatstheater Darmstadt, and at the Staatstheater Augsburg, where two of her own directing projects were created: the novel adaptations The Russian Lover of Birches by Olga Grjasnowa and Auerhaus by Bov Bjerg. Afterwards, she was an assistant director at the Münchner Kammerspiele and the Maxim Gorki Theater, working with, among others, Stefan Pucher and Ersan Mondtag. Since 2017, Bibiana Mendes has been working as a dramaturg with Lola Arias. Happy Nights at Theater Bremen follows productions such as Mother Tongue and What They Want to Hear, as well as several editions of the series My Documents.

On 14.5 22:00, an Artist Talk will take place with River Roux, together with DDCP at the Festival Centre. The talk will be broadcast live on Radio Rabe.