BIRDS OF A KIND

Wahida and Eitan meet for the first time in a reading room of a university library on the American east coast. The young bio geneticist with Jewish roots falls head over heels in love with the Arabic doctoral student from New York. The relationship is unacceptable for Eitan's religious father. But Eitan fights against the difficult legacy of his ancestors: “Our genes don't care about our existence. Your father's traumas are not written on your chromosomes.” On a research trip, Eitan is seriously injured in a bomb attack on the Israeli-Jordanian border. While he is in the hospital, Wahida tracks down his grandmother. Three generations from three continents come together at Eitan's bedside and the well-kept secret of the grandparents runs risk of being exposed. The Canadian-Lebanese author Wajdi Mouawad links the complex family relationships of cultural and genetic origins with the Mideast conflict. Between utopia and despair, he traces the wishes and fears of the characters who emigrated to the West. The modern version of ROMEO AND JULIET is told in Hebrew, Arabic, English and German.

After his award-winning work VERBRENNUNGEN (BURNS, original title INCENDIES), Stefan Bachmann is staging a play by Wajdi Mouawad for the second time.


trigger warning: the trailer contains a stroboscope effect