Peiden
A Village on Shifting Ground
Credits
Created and performed by: Bruno Cathomas
Co-written by: Roman Weishaupt
Directed by: Rafael Sanchez
Dramaturgy: Martina Mutzner
Set design: Duri Bischoff
Lighting design: Carlos Marqueria
Produced by: Theater Chur
Shortlisted for the Swiss Theatre Encounter 2016 · “An especially remarkable theatre production”
Background
For years, Roman Weishaupt has been exploring the slipping village of Peiden, its disappearing houses and family histories in his writing. His mother comes from Peiden-Dorf. Bruno Cathomas also has family ties to the village: his mother comes from Peiden-Bad. It was from this shared connection to the village and their long-standing friendship that the idea for a joint theatre performance arose. Personal memories and life stories from Bruno Cathomas were woven into the development of the play. Together with the director Rafael Sanchez, they developed the play; Weishaupt contributed as co-author to the script.
October · 2022 · Writer & Producer
Image credit: Yanik Bürkli
Press reviews
“There was much applause and many calls of ‘Bravo!’ for this very personal and surprisingly idiosyncratic evening of theatre.” - Bündner Zeitung / Südostschweiz, on Peiden, October 2022
“But it is also a play that celebrates the sonic beauty and melody of the Sursilvan language. In the epilogue, in a wholly classical gesture, Bruno Cathomas dismantles the stage while murmuring and reflecting: he places the props against the wall, ties them down, folds away the walls of the good parlour and keeps working until the entire set has been bundled into a small trailer, pulled away by an old two-wheeled tractor. A genuine Thespian cart of small touring stages, archaic theatre culture and a sly comment on the world – and, with a wink, just like the entire sensual, multilingual, beautiful and physically performed play. Highly recommended.” - Siegener Zeitung, on Peiden, December 2022
“… After an awkward ‘Ciao’, Bruno Cathomas throws himself headfirst into the story of the mountain village of Peiden: switching back and forth between three languages; with every fibre, every gram of his heavy body, he performs both himself and the occasional barely perceptible landslide. … As Bruno Cathomas, the son will leave all of this behind and yet continue to carry it with him. He will not forget the scent of juniper in the parlour. As flat as the stage star appears on the new giant screen – even the unpacking of the contraption, with a devilishly sharp box cutter, leads the narrative from one little thing to the next – Bruno Cathomas joyfully gives himself over to his village Chaplin, the other Bruno within him, who never got his chance in real life. There is much laughter in the sold-out Theater Chur that evening: a mixed, melancholy-tinged laughter at our own being here, existing on ground that is always in danger of slipping away.” - Theater der Zeit, on Peiden, October 2022