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Peiden
A Village on Shifting Ground
Credits
Created and performed by: Bruno Cathomas
Co-written by: Roman Weishaupt
Directed by: Rafael Sanchez
Dramaturgy: Martina Mutzner
Set design: Duri Bischoff
Lighting design: Carlos Marqueria
Produced by: Theater Chur
Shortlisted for the Swiss Theatre Encounter 2016 · “An especially remarkable theatre production”
Development
For years, Roman Weishaupt has been engaging with Peiden in his writing: the village slowly sliding down the mountainside, its vanished houses, family histories and memories. Out of this work and the long-standing friendship between Bruno Cathomas and Roman Weishaupt came the idea of creating a theatre evening together.
Both share family roots in Peiden: Cathomas’ mother came from Peiden-Bad, while Weishaupt’s mother came from the village of Peiden itself. Roman Weishaupt wrote the text and produced the original production during his tenure as director of Theater Chur. The production was subsequently taken up by Schauspielhaus Zürich under the artistic directorship of Ulrich Khuon.
October · 2022 · Writer and Producer
Image credit: Yanik Bürkli
Press reviews
“There was much applause and many calls of ‘Bravo!’ for this very personal and surprisingly idiosyncratic evening of theatre.” - Bündner Zeitung / Südostschweiz, on Peiden, October 2022
“But it is also a play that celebrates the sonic beauty and melody of the Sursilvan language. In the epilogue, in a wholly classical gesture, Bruno Cathomas dismantles the stage while murmuring and reflecting: he places the props against the wall, ties them down, folds away the walls of the good parlour and keeps working until the entire set has been bundled into a small trailer, pulled away by an old two-wheeled tractor. A genuine Thespian cart of small touring stages, archaic theatre culture and a sly comment on the world – and, with a wink, just like the entire sensual, multilingual, beautiful and physically performed play. Highly recommended.” - Siegener Zeitung, on Peiden, December 2022
“… After an awkward ‘Ciao’, Bruno Cathomas throws himself headfirst into the story of the mountain village of Peiden: switching back and forth between three languages; with every fibre, every gram of his heavy body, he performs both himself and the occasional barely perceptible landslide. … As Bruno Cathomas, the son will leave all of this behind and yet continue to carry it with him. He will not forget the scent of juniper in the parlour. As flat as the stage star appears on the new giant screen – even the unpacking of the contraption, with a devilishly sharp box cutter, leads the narrative from one little thing to the next – Bruno Cathomas joyfully gives himself over to his village Chaplin, the other Bruno within him, who never got his chance in real life. There is much laughter in the sold-out Theater Chur that evening: a mixed, melancholy-tinged laughter at our own being here, existing on ground that is always in danger of slipping away.” - Theater der Zeit, on Peiden, October 2022