Dog Heart | 2019 – Bookable
A puppet theater collage for adults – an attempt at revival, inspired by Laurie Anderson's film "Heart of a Dog."
Why are we here? The woman on stage was always "the one with the dog." Now the dog is gone. The dog is dead. "Does the dog live on inside me?" A theatrical, personal journey begins into the heart of the dog, which is none other than her own. The woman roams its rooms and encounters—how could it be otherwise?—the whole world. This production was inspired by the film "HEART OF A DOG" by American performance artist, musician, and film director Laurie Anderson, in which she weaves biographical stories with music, animated drawings, and edited 8mm films into an unusual and humorous essay.
Vanessa Valk embarks on a ludicrous, highly amusing journey in her solo performance. Together with director Frank Soehnle, video artist Tine Beutel, musician Johannes Frisch, and fantastic characters from the workshop of Vanessa Valk and Arne Bustorff, real spaces are transformed into the surreal.
– Stuttgarter Zeitung
An exciting, superbly staged play, both technically brilliant and emotionally gripping.
– Ludwigsburger Kreiszeitung newspaper
Valk acts sensitively under the direction of Frank Soehnle; you can feel the love for the dog, who is actually still there, in every movement.
– Fidena Portal
Director: Frank Soehnle
Idea, game, equipment, production: Vanessa Valk
Music: Johannes Frisch
Video: Tine Beutel
Technology and lighting design: Christian Glötzner
Character design: Vanessa Valk and Arne Bustorff
Hundeherz is a production by Theater TIER in co-production with FITZ – Theater animierter Formen Stuttgart, Theater Tuchlaube Aarau, Switzerland, and EWerk Freiburg. Funded by the Landesverband Freie Tanz- und Theaterschaffende Baden-Württemberg e.V. (State Association of Independent Dance and Theater Artists of Baden-Württemberg) with funds from the Ministry of Science, Research, and the Arts of the State of Baden-Württemberg, the Fonds Darstellende Künste (Performing Arts Fund) with funds from the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media, the Cultural Office of the City of Freiburg, and the LB BW Foundation.