love, death and failure
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Edition of 28 October 2004, 11-15

She cannot but fail. Our eyes look at Jennifer Minetti. We are eager, attentive and full of expectations. And there she stands, on a vast and empty stage and she does first of all: nothing. Whatever she would do now, she would fail, after all these announcements, expectations and projections which soar over the room when she appears. However, in “This Performance” staged in Frankfurt’s Mousonturm by David Weber-Krebs during the “Plateaux”-Festival for young Theatre Directors, almost nothing happens for 40 minutes, i.e. until the moment of Minetti’s appearance. There is only that voice which, starting in a languid rhythm, gradually accelerates the pulse as it raises ever new expectations such as: “This performance is about to give a message”, or promises moral certainty, or gives hope for salvation, and finally suggests foreboding: “This Performance is about to visit the enemy”. The female voice hints that This Performance will tell stories, proclaim revolution, or address matters of love, death, failure and the end of time. The audience longs for all this to happen. But nothing happens apparently; and still, unnoticeably something goes on on this entirely empty space. Light slowly brightens and darkens, a buzzing noise appears, approaches and wanes, water feebly trickles from the wall, and out of nowhere a small puddle develops slowly but steadily in the middle of the stage.

“This performance” is a small, simple and delightful piece of theatre about theatre.

Schü.