KIDS (AT)

A group of young people roam the streets of Johannesburg at night. They were born in the early 2000s and have grown up in a world full of economic crises, reignited wars and tensions fuelled by propaganda. They live in a multicultural world, but not in a just one. They are curious, sad, angry, ironic and vulnerable – yet they do not hide their vulnerability. They turn it into their weapon.

Kids is an extraordinary production: a blend of theatre and live cinema. The action takes place on the streets of Johannesburg and is broadcast live onto a large screen in the theatre during every performance. The city becomes a real-life extension of the black box theatre. Before the audience’s very eyes, a captivating portrait of a young generation emerges: a vibrant urban odyssey in the spirit of post-documentary theatre, the Nouvelle Vague and a new South African cinema.

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Kids – a collaboration between the Swiss director Boris Nikitin and the Johannesburg-based journalist Tseliso Monaheng – is a follow-up to the critically acclaimed cult play Dämonen, which Nikitin produced in 2022 together with Sebastian Nübling at the Theater Basel. The new work is part of a ten-part live cinema cycle exploring the emotional worlds of young people today.

Once again, a camera transmits the action taking place in the real urban environment live onto a large screen in the theatre. 
Unlike in the previous work, in which the audience and performers were in the same city, Kids takes a radical step further: the audience and performers are all on the same planet: the world premiere is taking place simultaneously in Basel, Johannesburg and at the FIT Festival in Lugano.