“Eternal youth, growth forever”: Ensemble LX with a guest performance in Aachen

The current production by Richard Jourdant and his exclusively female ensemble LX is minimalist, pure and this time also musical. “Eternal Youth, Growth Forever” is based on Eugène Ionesco’s television film “The Mud” and although half a century has passed since the TV production, the theme can hardly be contemporary.

Um, what’s up? In short: a man wakes up, begins his day, begins his work. It becomes increasingly weaker as reality, past, present and future blur together. In the end he sinks into the mud and dissolves.

This absurd play is about decay, death and dying and the simultaneous denial of finiteness and limitations. “We live as if there is no tomorrow, even if the world is collapsing around us,” explains the director. The belief in eternal economic growth without paying a high price for it suppresses the acceptance of old age and mortality. “Humanity is infantile; a species of clowns. She only believes in the end when it is imminent. From an economic point of view, this is very useful because the need for new products to stay young can be quickly awakened. Women in particular fall victim to this ageism effect. The promise of a fountain of youth also falls on very fertile ground.”

Richard Jourdant’s love of absurd theater manifested itself 30 years ago when he brought a piece of this genre to the stage with his Aachen amateur theater group “Theaterpunkt”. He has a soft spot for the mixture of seriousness and gross nonsense, the mixture of comedy, despair and madness.

Eugène Ionesco’s template for the theater production also follows this mixture. Lightness and humor stand alongside wistful melancholy and darkness to the macabre. The director was also attracted to the formal implementation of the poetic text. The film template was transformed into a simply structured narrative theater with live music and sounds.

The acting part lies with Barbara Schaffernicht and Undine Backhaus. Vera Knauer is responsible for the musical part. The music student plays the keyboard, makes noises and sings idiosyncratic, delicate interpretations of some pop hits from the 80s. “They also interfere in the plot and give voice to the old people’s opinions,” says the director.

There was also a very special challenge that had to be overcome, as the ensemble travels to the guest venues by train in an environmentally conscious and cost-saving manner. Therefore, the entire equipment should fit into a large suitcase. This is how we know the productions of Ensemble LX. A few selected props do not distract the focus from what is happening on stage. The audience in Theater 99 can look forward to the implementation of the cinematic Ionesco script in a stage premiere by l’Ensemble LX.