Projects

How much are you willing to give for love?

»True Romance« takes the audience deep into the heart of pig butchering — the most brutal form of digital romance scam. It is a billion-dollar business built on perfectly engineered emotional scripts: through endless messages, a real and beautiful relationship is sold to you, the damn best relationship you will ever have! And of course, that comes at a price. Until your bank account is empty. Until everything you have is gone.
Up to 15 audience members per performance experience the work of three characters inside a scam center. The immersive performance unfolds live in an office setting, somewhere between karaoke to Lana Del Rey’s »Video Games« and beer pong, while also taking place through smartphones handed out at the beginning. Using an app specially developed for the performance, parts of the story are delivered directly to the audience’s devices through personal chats and videos.

»True Romance« — a play about the promise of love in the digital age. A play like a message from the person you love. A play just for you.

A production by Stefan Mießeler in cooperation with Ballhaus Ost and Hoch X Munich. Funded by the Fonds Darstellende Künste with support from the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media, the Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, the NRW State Office for Independent Performing Arts, and the Cultural Office of the City of Bielefeld.

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