Political Performance between Reality and Fiction

Artistic leader: Werkführer Nielsen
Producer and dramaturge: Deputy Werkführer Gulbrandsen

Artistic profile
In the year of 2001, the author, playwright, performer, musician and human being Claus Beck-Nielsen, was declared dead. In 2002 Das Beckværk, a theatre and arts house, was opened in his name in a former reactor on the outskirts of Copenhagen. But on the 1st of January 2006 Das Beckværk merged with the trans-national company Das Beckwerk. The company governs and develops the life and work of Claus Beck-Nielsen (1963-2001) and through a variety of actions and initiatives the company seeks to popularize these works. The gesammt Beckwerk includes novels, poems, journals, plays, one-man shows, performances, photography, installations, concerts, records, videos, Internet events and interventions on the world stages in Iraq, Jordan, USA, Dubai, Iran etc. Mutual for all the Beckworks is the demolishing of the notion of boundaries between reality and fiction.

For nearly four years Das Beckværk produced Beckworks for the Danish market, but due to the unbounded globalised world and the nature of the world market Das Beckværk acknowledged the need for growth in order to survive. Das Beckværk therefore merged with the trans-national net-based Das Beckwerk and had to leave the permanent theatre-reactor and become a more flexible nomadic reactor.

From the 1st of July 2006 till the 30th of June 2007 Das Beckwerk is reactor-in-residence at Kaleidoskop/K2, Copenhagen.

Current Productions

The Return of The Democracy: A retrospective performance
(2007)
After having brought The Democracy to Iraq, the US and Iran – it is time to return The Democracy to Europe and the theatre, where the mission once was born. As the seventh step for The Democracy, we will stage the retrospective exhibition The Return of the Democracy – the story about the democratic revolutions staged by USA and Das Beckwerk. The show will take place at The Contemporary arts centre Nikolaj/Copenhagen, as a staged exhibition in three parts:
1. A guided tour: Performing the parts of Nielsen & Rasmussen, two local actors will guide the audience through video- and picture galleries, installations, actions, object and body trouvées etc, showing the History of The Democracy.
2. Three one-act plays: During the tour, the audience will be led into a “parliament”, where local actors will perform the roles of leading figures on the present world stage. The three feedbacks/plays are parallel responses to the three missions: Iraq, the US and Iran.
3. A parliamentary session: Finally, the real fictions Nielsen & Rasmussen will raise the Nomadic parliament and through dialogues and debates with local Europeans, write the script for the European re-appearance on the world stage. Together with invited experts from all over the world, the audience will be encouraged to discus the history and situation of the democracy, try to answer some of the biggest questions of our times and future. The globalization and the Clash of civilizations are matters of fact, and with this retrospective performance we hope to contribute to the transformation of these two from disasters to a funding meeting between people of the world.
Language versions: English and Danish

The Democracy Project. Mission: Iran
(2006)
In 2002/03, Das Beckwerk staged a play by the late Claus Beck-Nielsen called The parliament, a play about an architect’s attempt to build and open a world parliament. After declaring Das Beckwerk Iraqi territory, the political dramaturge Rasmussen and the Beckwerk-“Führer” Nielsen left the theatre in an attempt to put the entire Danish media on stage and, later, on the world stage. The first step was to form a universal model of The Democracy through dialogues with the public at Kongens Nytorv, the largest city square in Copenhagen. The next step was to cross the borders from Kuwait to Iraq in January 2004 with a nomadic parliament in a metal suitcase. The mission was to mount a parallel action to the American attempt to democratize Iraq and the Middle East. After the democratisation of Iraq, Nielsen and Rasmussen flew over the Atlantic in October/November 2004 in an attempt to re-democratize the US. Since then, The Democracy has been on display at the Museum of Modern Art in Washington. But it can’t stay there forever.  So, during October and November 2006, The Democracy will return to the Middle East. Follow the mission at http://thomasandclaus.blogspot.com and www.dasbeckwerk.com

Alongside with The Democracy Project, Das Beckwerk has published the novel The Suicide Mission about the attempt to introduce The Democracy to Iraq. The novel received a nomination for the Nordic Council Literature Prize for 2006.

The last European
(2005)
A terror musical written and composed by the late Claus Beck-Nielsen.
The Last European is an attempt to do the impossible: To bring together on one stage the personal spleen of a love- and life-sick little European and the terror of the world scene. It is the moral, ethical and aesthetic contest between the well-known tragedy of Ken Bigley and the all-too-private tragedy of Claus Beck-Nielsen’s life and love.
Language versions: English and Danish


Review Extracts

“At the very least, it is like nothing else on the Danish stage.  Highly original, with Nielsen using himself in a form that with its utter nakedness and politicized vision goes much farther than simple self-staging.  It is a theatre of vulnerability.”
Politiken (DK), The Last European

“An astounding demonstration of how the theatre can create strong and stunning pictures with very simple means. An hour and a half hour with intelligent, reflective and thought-provoking company, filled with great music.”
Jyllands-Posten (DK), The Last European

“The fact that the project does not only take place within the theatre, but that the two put themselves at risk and interact with individuals who participate in their project but with another agenda, shows that the project is more than an ironic statement.”
Morgenbladet (NO), The Democracy Project

International Tours

2007
May-June: Wiener Festwochen: Der Letzte Europäer - aus dem Biographischen ins Weltgeschichte in 10 Tage (Vienna/AT)

2006
Los Angeles, Hong Kong, Dubai and Iran: Mission Iran

2005
Baltic Circle International Theatre Festival: The last European (Helsinki/FI)