Thom Luz

The beauty of theater fog: Thom Luz stages a stage artwork with music, acting and fog machines.

The stagings of Swiss theater artist Thom Luz are wonderfully unique atmospheric condensations where archivists, sad clowns or weather researchers take a closer look at life. Much like the other big Swiss stage procrastinator Christoph Marthaler, Thom Luz’s ideas for theater emerge out of music, which he condenses with big visual ideas and texts to idiosyncratic theater compositions. As a result, Luz, who has also had strong careers as an actor and musician, has already been invited twice to Berlin’s Theatertreffen theater festival. For his new production he is exploring a very ephemeral theatrical element: artificial fog (he is also showing his fog installation, accompanied by a concert, in the St. Gertrud Church). His piece tells the story of a small fog-machine factory on the edge of a city. They are short on contracts, the future is uncertain and new ideas are required. So the manager and his employees draw on the company’s 225-year history to develop evanescent fog sculptures: waterfalls, seas of fog and a recreation of Arnold Böcklin’s »Isle of the Dead.« But will these fleeting moments of beauty be enough to save the company? With strong images and subtle tones, Luz tells a contemporary story filled with theater magic.

Audience Discussion on THU 18th August

GIRL FROM THE FOG MACHINE FACTORY production leaflet (PDF download)