Defiantly, with humour and a sense of the smallness of personal catastrophes, NICO AND THE NAVIGATORS pick again at existing wounds. Four characters from Germany, England, Japan and Italy are accompanied by a violin and a keyboard. „They demonstrate how words may strike like shots when faces are so close together. “ (Die Zeit)

The ensemble NICO AND THE NAVIGATORS was founded under the artistic direction of Nicola Hümpel and set designer Oliver Proske in 1998 at the Bauhaus Dessau. In October 1998 there began a close collaboration with the Sophiensaele in Berlin, where the ensemble started working as artists in residence on the cycle Menschenbilder. As has been repeatedly confirmed by the national and international press since 2001, the artistic impact of the ensemble’s theatrical language establishes it firmly within theatre's global landscape.

The ensemble has been twice nominated for the Friedrich- Luftpreis and for the Berliner Theatertreffen. In Italian theatre's annual Patalogo, NICO AND THE NAVIGATORS were chosen by three critics as “Best Guest Performance 2005” for their production Der Familienrat. In 2006 the company was invited for the first time to the Vienna Festival with Kain, Wenn und Aber and in the same year it collaborated with the Austrian music ensemble Franui, with whom it created Wo Du nicht bist, which had its successful premiere at the Bregenzer Festspiele. In 2009 NICO AND THE NAVIGATORS and Franui co-operated again to present Anaesthesia, a Handel pasticcio that premiered at the Handel-Festspiele in Halle before going on tour in Hanover, Bregenz, Berlin and Luxembourg. Since 2007 the ensemble has been the recipient of a pluri-annual sponsorship from the Berlin regional government.

Concept & Direction: Nicola Hümpel, set design: Oliver Proske, assistance Direction: Marcel Schwald, music: Nina Eleta (Sabine Akiko Ahrendt), Thomas Bloch-Bonhoff, by and with Martin Clausen, Adrian Gillott, Miyoko Urayama, Alberto Spagone (Oliver Zgorelec), Light: Arnaud Poumarat, sound: Mattef Kuhlmey, costume: Frauke Ritter, production & Tourmanagement: Ilja Fontaine, Marie Henrion

A production by NICO AND THE NAVIGATORS and KAMPNAGEL Hamburg in co-production with the International Figurentheater Festival of Erlangen, the Festival de Marseille, the Grand Theatre Groningen and Inteatrofestival Polverigi. Sponsored by Berlin regional government and Fonds Darstellende Künste e.V.

Photo:Wolfgang Unger