Darja Stocker │Research Trip

Theatre

Darja Stocker, born 1983 in Zürich, studied “Scenic writing” at the “Universität der Künste Berlin” (2012). Her plays were translated into many languages and were staged in over 30 theatres. For many years, Stocker is writing on the basis of research. Her main topics are structural violence and resistance movements. She did mostly research in Switzerland, Germany, France, Egypt, Tunisia and at the European borders. She was a fellow at “Internationales Forum des Berliner Theatertreffens”, her play “Nirgends in Friede Antigone” was invited to the “Autorentheatertage Berlin” and won the “Dramatikerpreis des Kulturkreises Deutscher Wirtschaft 2016“. At the moment she is working on different projects for state and independent project, individually and collectively.

About her research:

Thousands of swiss young men joined the foreign french legion, before and after World war II. Darja Stocker and Mohamedali Ltaief are focusing on the timeframe of Europe’s last colonial war, the Algerian struggle for independence. Coming from two different perspectives and constantly exchanging ideas, they will gather visual material and testimonies in order to create an artistic work about the role of the german-speaking legionnaires within the battle. As their play, which will be shown at Theater Basel in October is concerned exclusively about the past, their research trip will in the first place help to gather the exact historical details by following the traces of the legion at the Tunisian borders and in Alger. Furthermore, it will link the topic to the present, asking the question about independence today. The actual research will be shown beside the play, in a documentary evening, sharing with the audience the impressions, texts and interviews of the trip.