Call it performance
Call it art
I call it disaster
If the tapes don’t start
(Pet Shop Boys, Electricity)

The people who see most plays are the stage technicians. More than critics, artistic directors and stage directors. They are involved in the rehearsal process esand later in the performances – every day. Theater technicians have the secret knowledge of what would really be possible on stage if only the machinery were finally let off the leash. Floating musical instruments, a moving lights ballet and the world's largest guitar amplifier clash with fire regulations, health&safety regulations and a dramaturgy that wants to prevent everything. But what if … and so the spotlights become the sun, the restrictions become a magnifying glass and the stage becomes a hotbed of ideas.

It’s the final night
And they still can’t get it right
The movement on the stage was so slow
They’re calling it the stop and go show
(High Llamas, Theatreland)

Idea, realisation: Showcase Beat Le Mot

OnnO – Stromsturm for Elektra is a production by Showcase Beat Le Mot with HAU Hebbel am Ufer. Funded by Hauptstadtkulturfonds.

„It's the old story of those in the dark and those in the light. In the theater, the eyes and spotlights are only ever directed at the actors while those who provide the electricity, lighting and stage magic - the technicians - lead an unnoticed  existence. The theater collective Showcase Beat Le Mot reverse this hierarchy of attention. In their latest production On # No - Stromsturm für Elektra it will be only the technicians from Hebbel am Ufer who will be performing.“

(Tagesspiegel, 20.12.2008, Patrick Wildermann, Licht und Dunkel)