Tiergarten Theater Babel / DoelenEnsemble

TR25 Schouwburg

In the musical performance ‘TIERGARTEN’, a group of performers with and without disabilities looks back on the mass murder of psychiatric patients in Nazi Germany, 80 years after the end of the Second World War. Anyone who could not work, learn, or be cured was considered economically useless in Nazi Germany and was given unsolicited euthanasia. The most systematic phase of this ‘cleansing’ is known as T4, an abbreviation of Tiergartenstrasse 4, the address where the program was conceived and organized.

In ‘TIERGARTEN’, this poignant story is presented as a collective narrative. The actors alternately play perpetrators, victims, family members, witnesses, and also themselves. It becomes music theatre through the collaboration with the DoelenEnsemble. Christine Cornwell and Maarten van Veen of the DoelenEnsemble play both Beethoven and contemporary music.

With this performance, we highlight a relatively unknown history. A history that is still relevant today and deserves a place in our collective memory. ‘TIERGARTEN’ aligns with the national commemoration of the Second World War and the celebration of 80 years of freedom. A freedom that is not self-evident and must always be fought for anew. Especially in the current times.

‘TIERGARTEN’ is a co-production of Theater Babel and the DoelenEnsemble. They are able to create this performance thanks to the financial support of Fonds Podiumkunsten, Vfonds, Gemeente Rotterdam, Stichting Volkskracht and Stichting Droom en Daad.