Yosi Wanunu and Roland Rauschmeier in the roles of two portraits of a pope ponder ageing, time and dying, art history and interpretation, their faces overshadowed in horror.
The two popes are devastated, tired, depressed, miserable, gloomy, joyless and desperate. But the show must go on, despite a deep sense of existential weariness. The bodies, oh yes, the ageing bodies are heavy from years of arm-waving for an unknown, if enthusiastic crowd filled with love for the sacred. But all they want to do is scream. A Francis Bacon scream, a Battleship Potemkin scream, an Edvard Munch scream.
The Two Pop(e)s is inspired by two masterpieces of painting – Diego Velásquez’s 1650 portrait of Pope Innocent X and Francis Bacon's painting of the same pope entitled Study after Velázquez’s Portrait of Innocent X (1953). Innocent, who himself posed for Velazquez’s portrait, said after its completion, “It is too true! It is too true!”. Francis Bacon, on the other hand, never saw Velazquez’s original painting himself; he worked on the basis of a photograph and other found material.
The performance is conceived as an open form and can be visited at any time within the time frame. A public get-together where everyone gives their best.
Popes: Yosi Wanunu, Roland Rauschmeier
Video and music: Michael Strohmann
Stage: Ensemble
Concept: Yosi Wanunu
Production: Kornelia Kilga
In Collaboration with PKW
