The name of Milo Rau’s theatre and film production company, International Institute of Political Murder, offers the clearest indication of the Swiss theatre director, journalist, essayist and lecturer’s interests. Widely named as the most sought-after and also the most controversial theatre director of his generation, Milo will be in Chennai this week, with Schaubühne Berlin, to present the production, Compassion: The History of the Machine Gun, a show that’s sure to send chills down the spines of viewers.
In Compassion, Milo and his team journey to the political hotspots of the Mediterranean routes taken by refugees from West Asia and the Congolese civil war zones. The focus is squarely on the plight of refugees, a subject that has overwhelmed the world in recent months. “Images of the drowned on Mediterranean beaches or victims of civil war and disease in Central Africa: the crises and disasters of our time are ubiquitous in our Facebook timelines, on TV and in the press,” says a note from the hosts, offering a context to the show.
Hate Radio in Congo
Milo has, however, been deeply involved in the situation in Central Africa, around which he based two productions before Compassion, explains Stefan Bläske, a close collaborator and dramaturg of Milo and the IIPM, currently on tour in India with the cast and team. The first of Milo’s recent productions was called The Congo Tribunal, based on a trial against enterprises exploiting the country of Congo, against the corrupt government, says Stefan, in an email exchange. The other production, he says, was a theatre show called Hate Radio, which reenacted what a radio station in Ruanda was doing: preparing for genocide by inciting hatred between the Hutu and the Tutsi communities.
“So, you can very well study how important the role of media is in a society,” offers Stefan. “They can really destroy a society and prepare a civil war if they follow a government, and try to create hatred against minorities – a classical strategy of repressive governments, trying to point out another ‘enemy’ to avoid that people understand what the real problem is in the country — which, mostly, is the bad government itself.”
These two projects were the foundation on which they started work on Compassion, he explains. “After the focus on Central Africa, we spoke about the perspective of a European woman going to Africa, and being confronted with her own prejudices,” describes Stefan, outlining the play’s premise.
Lost and desperate
At its core, Compassion is about a European woman working for an NGO in Africa, who is confronted with her own racism. “It is a show about the feelings of compassion, revenge and humanity, of how to behave as a human being in existential situations,” says Stefan.
Given the backdrop of the refugee crises, and Milo’s research in Africa, the play combines the conflicts with different perspectives on colonialism, racism and violence. “Of course, it also looks at positive sides: empathy and compassion, engagement and responsibility,” notes Stefan.
To prepare for the play, the team conducted many interviews with NGO workers in Africa, about their experiences in the field. “We also spoke with people who came back, who where completely lost and desperate,” recalls Stefan. “Many of them could not find their way back to a ‘normal’ life, after what they experienced in Africa.” Stefan, incidentally, wrote his PhD at the University of Vienna on “Self-reflection and Media Reflection in Contemporary Theatre”, and was also named “Dramaturg of the year” in 2017.
Critics, meanwhile, hail Compassion for contemplating the limits of human compassion, and also, the limits of European humanism, even as Milo is outspoken about his idea of “cynical humanism”, illustrating the case of the drowned three-year-old Syrian boy Alan Kurdi, which received widespread media coverage. For Milo, the image became a potent symbol of the limits of human sensitivity. The underlying message of Compassion is far from flattering, as the bottomline exhorts, ‘Wir sind alle Arschlöcher’ or ‘We are all a**holes’.
Cynical and dangerous
In a world of moral ambiguity, manipulation, extreme alienation and make-believe reality, how does the factor of humanism result in a more impactful change in society? “That is a very difficult and big question,” responds Stefan. “Many of our performances deal with the cynical and hypocritical behaviour of the West,” he explains. “On one hand, thousands of NGOs go to improve the situation in the world, for example in Africa, they show ‘compassion’ for the suffering. But, they don’t want Africans to come to Europe. They have to stay where they are, in their misery. So, for us to feel not-guilty, we try to help a little,” offers Stefan.
He continues, “Parallelly, states and enterprises are producing and selling weapons, and many companies are exploiting the African continent, taking the gold and coltan (a valuable black mineral used in cell phones and computer chips), making dirty deals with corrupt governments, exploiting workers, and leaving a destroyed landscape. In the Western world, we are taking profit out of a neo-liberal world order — we get cheap clothing, cheap mobile phones, and so on. Globalisation means that for the enterprises and capital, there are no borders anymore, as goods travel throughout the world. There is a global stream of goods for consumption and luxury that produces immense pollution. But, at the same time, people are not allowed to travel the same way. Borders are being closed, nationalism is rising again. This is a cynical and dangerous situation.”
Milo was also recently appointed to lead a city theatre in Ghent, Belgium, notes Stefan. “We are preparing to open the new season with a big people’s project,” he enthuses. The idea is to get regular people to tell their personal stories on stage, he says. “We believe in the power of storytelling, the beauty of ‘real’ people on stage, and in the fact that in their ‘small’ stories, you can find a whole world,” he explains. “The big tragedy of humanity is always mirrored in the concrete stories of people around us. We just have to open our eyes and ears for them.”
Compassion: The History of the Machine Gun will be staged at The Music Academy, on March 17, 6.30 pm. Free entry. For ages 12+ only.
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