Lebanese artist duo Lina Majdalanie and Rabih Mroué weave together the story of McCarthy era censorship and modern-day repression of free speech.
In 1933, German playwright Bertolt Brecht fled Berlin, eventually settling in the United States, where he would be tried by the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) for communist affiliations.
Ten years ago, artist duo Lina Majdalanie and Rabih Mroué emigrated from Beirut to Berlin. Their new play weaves these two stories together, exploring historical and contemporary censorship of free speech, the rise of the far right, and exile.
Accompanied by a pianist playing songs from Brecht and Hanns Eisler, Majdalanie and Mroué bring their characteristic humour to question whether our liberal democracies are truly free, or if we’re all sitting in a gilded cage.
Performed in English, with German songs with English surtitles