Orlando - Engel und Wartesäle

Abstract: The play Orlando – Engel und Wartesäle (Orlando - Angels and Waiting Rooms) from the Berliner group Theater Thikwa deals with the human existential condition in the process of gender identities. In doing so, the performers on stage reveal a search for individuality and new beginnings that prevails in all situations. Details: At the beginning of the play, eight people wake up on the floor amid confusing mountains of clothes. The search for an identity is immediately apparent, as everyone is looking for the right clothes for themselves (not just the right clothes to “fit in”). At first, all players try on supposedly female clothes, but later, they try on clothes traditionally identified as “male clothes.” Throughout the play, one performer using a microphone (as if it were an interview) asks individual performers what they understand by specific topics such as hormone treatment, different types of skirts, nudity, or skinning. The characters hang their clothes on hangers around the stage as if they were a fence, showing different pieces of clothing to one person. A fashion store scene is played while a customer asks if her dress is already there. The voice on the phone, however, sounds so traditionally “masculine” that it leads to the question about the gender identity of the other person. Then, the general question arises about what exactly “now” means and whether this term can be defined. In the piece, the performers mention once and again Virginia Woolf’s character Orlando, an Elizabethan writer, who in the 1928 novel suddenly appears transformed from a man into a woman. The transformation was difficult and painful in those days, but it has become easier today. To take up the theme of transformation, they show some changes in everyday life after a sex change: new carpets, furniture, moisturizing, and pants, among others. Then, a person sings in a high-pitched voice. Meanwhile, we hear some performers whispering from behind what it would be like to be a woman. This disruption becomes more distinctive when the performers push another person to sing. The song of this person interrupts their quarrels first with a high voice, then with a shallow voice. In the following, a lot has to do with gender stereotypes, where a man needs all hands – or even more – to fight and protect women, and a woman uses her hands only to move up and down her shirt straps. Then, it is about traditionally binary “female” attributes like purity, innocence, and modesty. After another song, where the performers narrate Orlando’s gender transition, it is stated that men do not want her anymore after the transformation and that women detest her. Nothing is like before for Orlando; it has not always been like this. Furthermore, the actors remove their coats, which function as metaphorical mediums of their skin/identity, and gradually put on transparent plastic dresses that symbolize their new skin. This raises the question of the possibility of non-binary and simultaneous gender identities. The fluctuation between femininity and masculinity takes an unusual twist. The three most frequent questions after a gender transformation are whether one regrets it, whether it hurts, and in which gender one feels more pleasure. Ultimately, through the changes in the plastic clothes/skins, everyone can individually represent, realize, and start over, singing for themselves and with no apparent order.

摘要：柏林蒂克瓦剧团（Berliner group Theater Thikwa）创作的戏剧《奥兰多——天使与候诊室》（Orlando – Angels and Waiting Rooms）围绕性别身份建构进程中的人类生存处境展开探讨。剧中，舞台上的表演者们展现出对个体性与全新开端的追寻，这一追寻贯穿全剧所有情境。细节：戏剧开篇，八名表演者在堆积如山、令人眼花缭乱的衣物间的地板上苏醒。对身份的追寻随即显现：众人都在寻觅契合自身的衣物——而非仅仅是能"融入群体"的着装。起初，所有演员都试穿了被刻板定义为女性的服饰，随后又试穿了传统意义上的"男性服饰"。全剧过程中，一名手持麦克风的表演者以类似访谈的形式，向其他演员询问他们对特定议题的理解，诸如激素治疗、各式裙装、裸露身体，或是肌肤剥离。剧中角色将衣物挂在舞台四周的衣架上，仿若一道围栏，并向另一人展示不同的服饰单品。剧中还呈现了一段服装店场景：一名顾客致电询问自己的连衣裙是否已备好，但电话那头的嗓音却极具传统意义上的"男性特质"，由此引发了对对方性别身份的追问。随后，核心议题转向："当下"究竟为何物，这一概念是否可被界定。剧中，表演者们反复提及弗吉尼亚·伍尔夫（Virginia Woolf）笔下的角色奥兰多——这位伊丽莎白时代的作家，在1928年的小说中突然从男性转变为女性。在那个年代，这种转变艰难且痛苦，但如今已变得相对容易。为呼应这一转变主题，他们展现了变性后日常生活中的诸多变化：新地毯、新家具、护肤护理，以及长裤等等。随后，一名演员以高亢的嗓音演唱。与此同时，我们能听到部分表演者在幕后低语，想象作为女性会是何种体验。当表演者们推搡另一名演员进行演唱时，这种突兀感愈发明显。这名演员的歌声先是以高亢女声打断了众人的争执，随后又转为低沉男声。剧情随后围绕性别刻板印象展开：男性需要竭尽所能——甚至不止于此——去战斗并保护女性，而女性则仅用双手拉扯衬衫肩带。剧情转向传统二元性别框架下的"女性特质"属性，诸如纯洁、天真与端庄。在另一首讲述奥兰多性别转变的歌曲之后，剧中点明：转变完成后，男性不再接纳她，女性也厌恶她。奥兰多的世界已然全然改变，而这种状况并非始终如此。此外，演员们脱去外套——这一衣物作为其肌肤/身份的隐喻媒介——并逐渐换上透明塑料衣裙，以此象征他们的全新"肌肤"。这一情节引发了关于非二元性别（non-binary）与同时性性别身份可能性的探讨。阳刚与阴柔之间的摇摆呈现出别样的转折。性别转变后最常被问及的三个问题是：是否后悔？是否承受痛苦？以及在何种性别中能感受到更多愉悦。最终，通过塑料衣物/肌肤的变换，每个人都能独立地展现、认知并重塑自我，随性地为自己歌唱，无需遵循任何既定秩序。