HANG OUT

“The greatest danger in life is that we become too cautious.” (Japanese proverb)

Contemporary society places a high value on safety. An increasingly extensive system of rules and standards is supposed to guarantee that nothing can happen to us in public space. Where and at what risk is it still possible to go outside for a wander, to just hang out? Do our children still go out alone? Safety may have become our mantra, but don’t we miss the nervous excitement that drives us to skydive, or at least go to the circus?

HANG OUT, an audio-walk performance by performer and acrobat Eliška Brtnická, deals with remote and forbidden places in public space, especially the kind that perhaps you’ve always wanted to climb.

Concept, performance, scenography: Eliška Brtnická
Script: Eliška Brtnická, Viktorie Knotková
Voice-Over: Tereza Hofová
Dramaturgy: Viktorie Knotková
Supervision: Stéphanie N’Duhirahe
Sound design: Stanislav Abrahám, Roman Džačár
Production: Eva Roškaňuková, Iva-Hedvika Zýková
Video trailer: Petra Bučková
Photo: Vojtěch Brtnický
In cooperation with: KD Mlejn, Cirqueon, Roundabout Europe
Supported by the City of Prague and the Ministry of Culture Czech Republic
Special thanks to: Trevor Davies, Joe Mackintosh, Dagmar Bednáriková, Prokop Vondruška, Martin Roškaňuk, Linda and Mathias Straub, Šárka Maršíková, Veronika Štefanová, Metropolis – art and performance in public space, CAMP Centre for Architecture and Urban Planning, Prague City District 13, the five Czech female aerial acrobats and their parents, who gave us interviews, and Hanička.

Audience: adult, children 6+

About the company

The performance is an audio walk: the spectators have headphones on and they follow a guide. The performer starts on the ground, then climbs on the building and continues performing on its climbable, ideally metal, parts. The audience watches the performer from (publicly) accessible areas around the building.

Eliška Brtnická (*1983) is a performer, choreographer, dramaturg and director. She studied non-verbal theatre at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (HAMU), where she completed her doctoral studies in contemporary circus last year. In 2010, she founded the Cirkus Mlejn ensemble, under whose name she creates her projects. In 2017, she graduated from the prestigious French circus school CNAC in Châlons-en-Champagne, following a year-long course in circus dramaturgy. She also works as a dramaturg for the international festival Fun Fatale.