War is too often portrayed as a male story \u2014 in the news, in novels, in our collective consciousness, and on stage. This performance turns that assumption upside down, giving female voices the role of storytellers. Playing as a way of understanding the world is the starting point of this performance. Play carries great potential: it not only reflects our world but also offers the possibility to imagine a peaceful future. War is also mirrored in play \u2014 for example, in boys\u2019 games: shooting with sticks, fighting with swords or water guns. In first-person shooters and strategic computer games, wars are simulated. But where are the women in these games, and what roles do they play in real wars? To explore these questions, theatre maker Natasha Borenko went to Mannheim to collect stories from women who have experienced war. The result is an evening of theatre that, by exploring personal stories and transforming play, creates a new world. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u202f <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The cast consists of 17 women from Ukraine, Kurdistan, Syria, Iran, Turkey, Nigeria, Kosovo, Bosnia, Croatia, and Germany. Siberian-born director Natasha Borenko develops political theatre, in which participation and play are instruments to deconstruct systems and practice social change. The texts were compiled by Lidiia Golovanova, who collected the personal stories of the women. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Stadtensemble\u00a0NTM Mannheim | Theatre | Germany<\/em>\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u202f <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" War is too often portrayed as a male story \u2014 in the news, in novels, in our collective consciousness, and on stage. This performance turns that assumption upside down, giving female voices the role of storytellers. Playing as a way of understanding the world is the starting point of this performance. Play carries great potential: it…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":3105,"template":"","topic":[],"editions":[606],"festival_production_types":[28],"class_list":["post-3107","production","type-production","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","edition-606","festival_production_type-performance"],"acf":{"makers":[{"ID":6129,"post_author":"601","post_date":"2025-11-06 14:52:03","post_date_gmt":"2025-11-06 13:52:03","post_content":"\n The Mannheimer Stadtensemble<\/strong> is a permanent ensemble of around 30 Mannheim residents, founded at the Nationaltheater Mannheim in the 2018\u201319 season. It brings together people of diverse ages, backgrounds, genders, districts, and native languages, reflecting the city\u2019s plurality. The ensemble\u2019s core vision is to bring the voices, issues, and stories of Mannheim onto the stage, driven by artistic curiosity, experimentation, and a willingness to explore new theatrical forms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Stadtensemble positions itself as a space for self-empowerment, particularly for communities that experience discrimination. It is a deliberately heterogeneous group that continues to grow, seeking new perspectives and artistic expressions. Its work is grounded in artistic research and combines methods from experimental and documentary theatre. Members perform as citizens of the city in which they live and work, engaging with audiences on equal footing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The ensemble\u2019s aim goes beyond representation: it strives to spark social change. Underrepresented voices play a central role, ensuring that perspectives often overlooked in traditional theatre contexts are heard and made visible.<\/p>\n","post_title":"Nationaltheater Mannheim","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"nationaltheater-mannheim","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-11-06 14:52:35","post_modified_gmt":"2025-11-06 13:52:35","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/icafrotterdam.com\/?post_type=maker&p=6129","menu_order":0,"post_type":"maker","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"makers_involved":"","also_interesting":"","edition":606},"programmes":{"2026032820260328":{"19:00:0020:30:00":[{"id":3479,"title":"KRIEG IST KEIN SPIEL F\u00dcR FRAUEN","type":"productions","production_count":1,"start_date":"20260328","date":[{"day_name":"Sat","day":"28","month":"March","month_abbrev":"Mar","year":"2026","timestamp":"2026-03-28"}],"time":"19:00 - 20:30"}]}},"days":["20260328"],"makers":{"6129":"Nationaltheater Mannheim"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/icafrotterdam.com\/festival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/productions\/3107","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/icafrotterdam.com\/festival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/productions"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/icafrotterdam.com\/festival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/production"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/icafrotterdam.com\/festival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/productions\/3107\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3837,"href":"https:\/\/icafrotterdam.com\/festival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/productions\/3107\/revisions\/3837"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/icafrotterdam.com\/festival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3105"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/icafrotterdam.com\/festival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3107"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/icafrotterdam.com\/festival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/topic?post=3107"},{"taxonomy":"edition","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/icafrotterdam.com\/festival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/editions?post=3107"},{"taxonomy":"festival_production_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/icafrotterdam.com\/festival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/festival_production_types?post=3107"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}