Cypressenburg

Titus Fox, a young arthouse filmmaker, is the talk of the town. He is planning to make a film about diversity, racism and identity with the aim of connecting with his white audience at their level. The plot: a “ginger” has to endure a lot of teasing because of his hair, but finally finds happiness when he dresses up in a magic wig. Titus is hoping to get financial backing from his uncle, Carl Carl, a producer at the Filmsociété Cypressenburg. But Carl Carl is more interested in writing his book about the real experiences of Hannibal during his crossing of the Alps. Besides, the Filmsociété has more pressing problems. The latest film headlined by Sal O’Myè, the studio’s star, recently flopped, and the holding is now looking for a new CEO. The Countess of Cypressenburg has her sights on the job. She is the great-granddaughter of the company’s founder, Süleyman, who personally planted the eponymous cypress tree in front of the studio. But it is a dull Swiss crooner who seems set to take over. The Countess hatches a plan but lacks the means to put it into action – which can also be said of Titus, who is getting caught up in the themes of his film …

In their latest joint project, Golda Barton and the theatre collective MamaNoSing set the stage for an irreverent, sharp-tongued ruckus loosely based on Nestroy but firmly rooted in the present day. “Nestroy himself copied elements of his story from somewhere. Picasso did it too. You take something, copy it, and – voilà! – you’re labelled avantgarde or modern, and you scoff at the original motif, calling it primitive or naive. And this here is then woke, or what?”