Time to Retreat? - The State of the Union

A tragicomedy on European crises and non-European sanctuaries

A strange funeral, an unsettling yoga retreat, a burned-out president and a lot of unresolved questions. This theatre performance will take you from the centre of European political power in Brussels to a faraway island, all the while questioning your own opinions and beliefs: Where does Europe stand in an ever-complex world? Does Europe live up to its high moral standards and values it espouses or is it abusing the rest of the world by treating
it as a junkyard? What does the rest of the world have to say about all this?

The current president of the European Commission, Christine is a shrewd political player, an experienced negotiator but, most of all, a burned-out woman with anxiety issues. Waking up to nightmares after weeks of sleepless nights she feels in her gut that something is wrong. With the EU running in constant crisis mode, she must catch up and face her own crisis of convictions and beliefs.

While the endless circles of problems in Brussels keep spinning, she involuntarily gets dragged into an anti-burnout yoga retreat by her co-workers. Suddenly, she is faced with persons, stories and fates of non-Europeans that reflect a different narrative about Europe and raise unsettling questions: Was the Commission President always authentic in defending European institutions and ideas? Was the EU really the flawless global defender of human rights, humanism and democracy that she declared it for?

This project is offered as a contribution from the School of Transnational to the SOU4YOU. The play is initiated, developed and directed by STG master students and includes theatrical performances by fellows, staff and faculty members from EUI at large.

Cast and Crew

Kalypso Nicolaidis	Creative mentor and Alexa
Lukas Wiehler	Director
Fee Kirsch	Director
Andrea Bruno Savelli	Producer
Michele Giovanardi	Tech & Video Production
Roberto Sequerra Koogan Breitman	Sound and light management
Jamie Mackay	Script doctor
Josep Maria Folch Olivella	Budget coordinator
STG Master Cohort	Writers
Adélie Chevée	Commission President
Inés Bolaños Somoano	Retreat Master
Zakaria Al Shmaly	Zain