Why do we go to the theatre? To fall in love!

Curtain call. Enter Clara, the new face of Theater ANU. Yet she stands with her back to the audience, taking their point of view.

The new face of Theater Anu? Is it even possible to put it that way? After all, it's not so much a face as a pair of eyes, a voice, a thought. You will see. Or hear. Or read.
I'm Clara. I'm new, and I'm here to give frequent reports on what's happening behind the scenes of ANU, who the people behind it all are, how they think, what keeps them going. I will report on the various performances, venues, journeys, changes, on the good times and the not so good times,of opening curtains, of applause. 

But first I would like to introduce myself by revealing something about myself, which I think applies to all people who go to the theatre: I want to fall in love!

It doesn't have to be forever. It doesn't have to be the big, long-lasting, and, if we're honest, in the long run a little exhausting love. No, I want the excitement, the tickle in my chest, the rush of being briefly, happily, excitedly in love. Similar to the feeling you get from the first rays of sun after a long winter. And where to find this feeling? Just where everyone can find it: in the theatre.
Isn't it true that while we sit in the audience trying to decipher the story being told, following the characters, our hearts rushing towards catharsis, a large part of the brain is nevertheless busy scanning the stage for that one Person - who we can fall in love? The one who catches our eye again and again? And isn't it then no longer the character, but the person behind it, their beauty, their courage to put themselves on stage? Aren't we trying to discover those facial movements that the actor probably can't even get rid of backstage: a twitch in the corner of the mouth, the dimples in the smile, the gait, the tilt of the head, the sparkle in the eyes.

It's the desire to (be allowed to!) take a look behind the scenes of a person, and there, in all the chaos of costumes, masks, schedules, cables, apples with bites taken out of them and half-full drinking bottles, to find something nice. And while the play continues on stage, we sit down, take the apple into our hands and turn it over, look at it from all sides, noticing the brown spots, and even if they bother us a bit, we still like being here. It is the longing for this 'behind the scenes' that arises while we are sitting in the audience: a permission to see the real, the unplayed and unadorned. The performance pulls us in just enough to make us believe that the one person on stage we have chosen to fall in love with also has an outstanding personality in real life, even behind the scenes, and is simply perfect: we fall in love. Our hearts start beating faster as soon as the person turns to the audience. We try to make eye contact and every now and then we are sure for a few seconds: They looked at us, and with us I mean meand no one else. There is a connection, I have been seen, my alert, beautiful gaze has been noticed and the falling in love turned out to be mutual, definitely.
Because falling in love is, of course, also about the deeply rooted desire to be seen, to be noticed and understood. We want someone to also take a look behind our scenes and find everything there to be simply perfect, despite all the chaos.
The story we are told offers us a part of it, we can identify with it, experience it, cry with it, rejoice with it, and our hearts are opened to the one effect that sets theatre apart from all the other types of media: Seeing and being seen. The possibility of falling in love with something or someone in that moment of watching and maybe even getting the feeling of being loved back. That can only happen in the theatre. And where would be a better place for this than at Theater ANU, where encounters, touching and closeness are particularly important.

So I'm here to take you behind the scenes of ANU, look for half-eaten apples, lift powder compacts and make-up brushes, try on masks and take them off again, throw on a feather boa and look at myself in the mirror. It's worth staying tuned, maybe you'll fall in love!

Clara walks off stage, the curtain closes, we hear a rumble, a clearing of the throat, someone taking a bite out of an apple.

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