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Imitation of Life

FIT Lugano
19. Oktober 2014
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The Art Consulate
28. März 2014
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Theater Rampe, Stuttgart
29th November - 1st December 2013
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Ganz New Festival, Zagreb
18th and 19th Septembre 2013
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Hebbel am Ufer (HAU), Berlin
20th, 21st , 22th June 2013
weitere Aufführungen…
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Journées de Théatre Suisse Contemporain
16th January 2013
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Little Theatre, Cape Town (SA)
30. November, 1. Dezember 2012
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Joburg Theatre, Johannesburg (SA)
22. + 23. November 2012
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Sakharov Center, Moskau
2. + 3. Oktober 2012
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Gessnerallee, Zürich
11. November 2011
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Mousonturm, Frankfurt, Festival "plateaux"
6., 7. Mai 2011
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Tuchlaube Aarau, Festival "Kunstexpander"
1. Oktober 2010
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Ringlokschuppen, Mülheim an der Ruhr
24., 25. September 2010
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Schlachthaus, Bern, Festival "auawirleben"
16., 17. Mai 2010
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Theaterhaus Gessnerallee, Zürich
10., 11. April 2010
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HAU, Berlin
1. November 2009
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HAU, Berlin
30., 31. Oktober 2009
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HAU, Berlin
29. Oktober (Berliner Premiere) 2009
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Festival "Treibstoff '09", Kaserne Basel
12., 13. September 2009
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Festival "Treibstoff", Kaserne Basel
10. September (Premiere/UA) 2009

The performance is available in English.

Conceived, directed and designed by: Boris Nikitin 
Performers & Texts: Beatrice Fleischlin, Malte Scholz 
Dramaturgy: Cecilie Ullerup Schmidt 
Stage Design: PanteraPantera/Thomas Wüthrich, Jens Müller 
Production Management: Hendrik Unger

Thanks to Jürgen Harksen and Dirk Baecker.

Produced by Boris Nikitin/Paraform. Cocomissioned by Kaserne Basel/Treibstoff Theatertage 2009 and HAU Hebbel am Ufer. Supported by Hauptstadtkulturfonds Berlin.

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taz: „There isn’t hardly any director who is questioning the status of what he is showing to a greater extend than Nikitin. And it’s just fascinating to see how little theatre needs to be good.“
Tagesanzeiger: "The probably most elementary work of the festival is Boris Nikitin's "Imitation of Life". A performance in which Malte Scholz and Beatrice Fleischlin question the representation of biography by telling seemingly authentic episodes of their lives - in a piece, that shows us, how the "I's" can be deconstructed, how the told stories change their impact by the use of music and how the structure of our emotions is penetrated by light effects. The stage becomes a space in which we can reflect our perception of the world"


Sunday Independend (Cape Town): We leave Nikitin's performance with a sense that we have journeyed back and forth through the complex corridors of performance, where acting, non-acting, fiction and non-fiction run parallel to each other and intersect.
Nikitin makes clever work that not only prompts some interesting questions around the "live" theme, attaching it to more existential ideas rather than just the semantics around performance terms or non-terms, but he also sets a bar for performance. His work is more complex and rounded than any of the others at the festival.
Basellandschaftliche Zeitung: „The performance shows us the creation of theatre in a subtle way. (...) Nikitin gives the performers time and space. He's an astonishing talent, smart and with a great instinct. He creates moments of magical beauty."



Fake diaries, fake images, fake secret service reports, fake scientific protocols, fake biographies, fake documents – at some point they were all believed to be real. Only when they were revealed to be fakes did it become clear that reality can deceive. Boris Nikitin thinks about fiction and reality in a documentary show about fraud, manipulation and the power of affirmation. Two actors and a counterfeiter are the central figures in this play. They are imitators who are able to impersonate somebody else. “Imitation of Life“ is a theatrical balancing act between certainty and uncertainty about information. A profound piece which points to the origin of our suspicion that things might not be what they appear to be.

D/E
  • Demons
  • Season One. 20 Years Big Brother
  • 24 frames per second
  • Swiss Propaganda-Conference
  • Attempt on Dying
  • Revolution of the vulnerable
  • It's The Real Thing '19
  • The Opposite of Things
  • don't be yourself - eight self portraits
  • Power and Vulnerability 1-8
  • Presentation of a fake sermon
  • Meet Your Enemy at the Social Muscle Club
  • Martin Luther Propagandasymposium
  • It's The Real Thing 17
  • Hamlet
  • Martin Luther Propagandapiece
  • The audition
  • Sonnet 20
  • X-Appartments Athens
  • It's The Real Thing 15 - Basel Documentary Platform
  • The Joburg Auditions
  • Sänger ohne Schatten
  • Documentation, fake, reality
  • Exit
  • Also the real thing
  • Sei Nicht Du Selbst
  • It's The Real Thing - Basel Documentary Platform 13
  • How to win friends & influence people
  • Bartleby oder Sicherheit ist ein Gefühl
  • Das Grundgesetz
  • Diese Kinder sind in Ordnung
  • Universal Export
  • The broken jar
  • Die Zeitmaschine 1980-2010
  • Woyzeck (Radioplay)
  • X- Schulen
  • Imitation of Life
  • F for Fake (after Orson Welles)
  • Woyzeck