Sleep for ever  Rest for ever
A bit macabre
Yes  Definitely yes
But you don't know
Could be
But you don't know
Nobody knows  But could be

Dea Loher
INNOCENCE
A city by the sea. 14 people on the edge.

Elisio and Fadoul are illegal immigrants. They saw a woman drowning in the sea and did not help her. One of them cannot sleep any longer, the other finds a bag full of money. Absolute is a young blind woman who dances naked in the “Blue Planet" for men who can see her. Mrs Hasenough seeks forgiveness for crimes she did not commit. Franz has found a life-fulfilling task: he works for an undertaker, looking after the dead. His wife Rosa would like to have a child from him. Rosa's mother, Mrs Sugar, is diabetic and abdicates responsibility to Rosa and Franz, moving in with them. Two suicides meet each other at a party on the thirteenth floor. Ella, an ageing philosopher, has burned her books and now believes in nothing but the world's unreliability.

 INNOCENCE premiered in Hamburg in 2003 with the English translation premiering in London the following year.  It is an investigation into the existential questions of our lives: morality, choice, guilt.

A cast of 14 actors create this composition of fragments from the edge of life.

The performance is directed by German Sebastian Sommer as his major work in the Master of Theatre Arts in Directing programme at Toi Whakaari : NZ Drama School and Victoria University Wellington. Prior to his study in New Zealand, Sebastian lived and worked as actor and director in Berlin and Bavaria. He also holds an Honours degree in music therapy.

The production is produced and managed by Michael Leger as part of his final year of study toward a Bachelor of Performing Arts Management at Toi Whakaari : NZ Drama School. Michael has been involved in the New Zealand entertainment arts industry for the last 15 years and has returned to Toi Whakaari this year to complete this degree.

A dynamic team of professional theatre design artists will bring the show to life in Wellington’s Te Whaea Theatre. Audiences are limited to an intimate 100 per performance. The design explores the same existential themes contained in the text through the extensive use of set, light, projection and original music.

Dea Loher is regarded as one of the most influential and distinct German playwrights of our time. She is noted for her original theatrical style, her poetic language and the uncompromising picture she draws of contemporary life. She has received several awards for her work, including the Berthold Brecht Award for Literature (2006), and the Mühlheim Drama Prize (1998 and 2008) – the most highly regarded award for playwrights in Germany. The jury of the Berlin Literary Prize (2009) described Dea Loher as: "Equipped with such a vigilant sensitivity towards societal injustice, pain and destruction, for the damage of her characters by the system, she still remains personal in the conflicts she describes and avoids stepping into theoretical and scrappy tendencies."

INNOCENCE - CAST AND CREW

Director  Sebastian Sommer

Producer  Michael Leger

Fadoul  Tawanda Manyimo
Elisio  Tony Hopkins
Absolute  Helen Grant
Mrs Sugar  Kassie McLuskie
Rosa  Jackie Shaw
Franz  Ralph Upton
Mrs Hasenough  Fiona Jagose
Mother of a girl who has been killed  Emma Smith
Father of a girl who has been killed  Thomas Taptiklis
Ella  Dalise Rawlings
Helmut  Ray Goldstein
Suicide 1  Gareth Hobbs
Suicide 2  Aidan Weekes
Drowning Woman  Kate Clarkin

Set Designer  Richard Larsen
Costume Designer  Stacey Brummer
Light Designer  Rachel Baker
Sound Designer  Rowan Pierce
Artistic Support  Astrid Gleichmann
Dramaturg  Fiona McNamara

Running time 120 minutes

When: Monday - Friday : 04 October – 08 October : 7.30pm

Audience talk following the performance on Wednesday 06 October

Venue: Te Whaea: National Dance and Drama Centre
11 Hutchison Road, Newtown, Wellington

Tickets: $18 / $12
Bookings are available now at www.innocence.co.nz