Mirella Drosten

“Arrest” is an audio performance by Nicola Schubert. Based on real biographies of politically persecuted women and Gestapo employees in Dortmund and Cologne, the audio piece creates a scenic-docufictional narrative of political repression.

The stage-to-screen hybrid presents a visual adaptaion of the original stage play using deliberate camera work and editing.

Erna K. works as a typist for the Gestapo.
In prison, she encounters womenwho have been imprisoned for political reasons:
The communist Johanna Melzer, the Ukrainian forced laborer Marija Klimenko,
and a woman whom no one can quite figure out: Is she really an anti-fascist?

The audio performance “Arrest” focuses on the biographies of female political prisoners and Gestapo assistants from Dortmund and Cologne: How did they navigate the microcosm of prison? What was their attitude toward the Nazis? In docu-fictional radio play scenes, the story follows the three prisoners and the ambitious Nazi Erna K., who wants to make a career in the police force. Above all, the question of how to deal with the politics of memory and the aftermath of Nazism in Germany—to this day—looms large. Nicola Schubert's performance took place at the Steinwache Nazi Memorial in Dortmund and at the NS-DOK in Cologne, and its content also references both locations.

I used cinematic techniques to create an independent translation of the performance into the medium of film. Through visual language and montage, the piece can be experienced beyond the live performances and made accessible to a wider audience.

Most of the stage-to-screen hybrid was filmed in one day at Steinwache Dortmund. In addition, a few hours were spent at EL-DE Haus Cologne, as well as one performance with an audience at each location. The outdoor shots were filmed at Mahnmal Bittermark.

Shot on A7S3 / GoPro Hero

SHOWS

EL-DE Haus Köln, July 2024

Steinwache Dortmund, Premiere, June 2024

We offer seminars on the themes explored in the production and on the broader topic of translating a stage play into another medium, to engage a wider audience. Workshops can be tailored to schools, cultural institutions, youth organizations, and similar settings. // contact

script / lyric / directed & produced by
NICOLA SCHUBERT

stage-to-screen hybrid
Mirella Drosten

music composition / soundscapes
CHIARA STRICKLAND

sounddesign
TI:ME:CO:DE

set design & costume / graphic design
Clara Kulemeyer

production assistant
Laura Sallfellner

text consultation
Markus FRIEDMANN
olga prokot
Johannes weilandt

title design
Mirella Drosten

photos
JANA BAUCH

voices
MEELAH ADAMS / OLJA ARTES / FELIX BREUEL / MARC FISCHER
MARKUS FRIEDMANN / JUSTINE HAUER / LISA SOPHIE KUSZ / FIONA METSCHER
ROBERT OSCHATZ / OLGA PROKOT / SIMON RUSSIG / NICOLA SCHUBERT

funded by
Die Beauftragte der Bundesregierung für Kultur und Medien / FONDS Darstellende Künste / Ministerium für Kultur und Wissenschaft des Landes Nordrhein Westfalen / Stadt Köln Kulturamt / NRW Landesbüro Freie Darstellende Künste / Kulturbüro Dortmund / NRW Kulturrat Sekretariat Wuppertal / NS-DOK / Kunststiftung NRW / Sparkasse Dortmund / Ein Museum der Stadt Köln

2024

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