AFTER THE REHEARSAL / PERSONA

About the show

In After the Rehearsal director Hendrik Vogler organises his life within the confines of the rehearsal space. His life is completely enveloped by his work. The rehearsals are like notes in his personal diary, and the performances form his autobiography. Everything is submitted to his imagination and control. Yet it becomes apparent that life and reality cannot be kept at bay after all. Love, birth, decay and death seep into his bastion in the shape of Anna and Rachel, who appeal to him as an artist and a human being. In Persona an actress stops playing. In her mind a short circuit occurs between the roles she plays in real life, and the ones she plays on stage. The role of motherhood poses her with insurmountable problems and destroys her self-image. Again, life (pregnancy and birth) tears someone away from the controlled role play of the theatre. Her struggle with other people’s expectations and the deep crisis that ensues also force the doctor and nurse who take care of her out of the safe reaches of their conventional lives.