Calendar

Can we recognise the moment when we should not cross a line, should not go along with something, or should not look the other way? Can we resist the game of censorship, survive it, disrupt it or subvert it? And at what point do these strategies begin to perpetuate the very system they originally sought to endure or overcome?

‘The Game We Knew but Didn’t Play’ explores censorship as a power struggle that intervenes in artistic processes, relationships and everyday encounters. The performance explores how censorship determines what can be said and shown, but also how it shapes institutions, communities and the ways in which artists negotiate, adapt, remain silent, take risks or continue their work within restrictive structures.The work is based on Azadeh Ganjeh’s research into German theatre productions that were staged in state-controlled venues in the Islamic Republic of Iran following the 1979 revolution. Shaped by the perspectives of exiled artists who have experienced censorship, these case studies serve as a starting point for an exploration of censorship in various political, cultural and institutional contexts.Developed by Rebel-IST-hah! members Foad Esfahani and Azadeh Ganjeh in collaboration with Lisa Lucassen, Jule Flierl and Philine Rinnert, the performance draws on documentary materials, historical case studies, personal archives, biographies and performative actions.

Together, these materials broaden the exploration of how our lives, our decisions and our actions become entangled in systems of censorship.

Each performance opens up a space for questions. How does censorship intrude upon this space? How does it become an invisible component of aesthetic decisions, institutional agreements or artistic collaborations? And who benefits from the compromises and interdependencies that arise from this? What did we know about the play? And what might happen if we turned this knowledge into action?

Rebel-IST-hah! is a performance and research collective founded in 2006 by Azadeh Ganjeh and Foad Esfahani in Tehran (Iran) and based in Berlin since 2022. Through performance art, artistic research and collaborative working processes, the collective explores social and political issues and examines how people experience power through bodies, spaces, institutions and narratives. Over the years, Rebel-IST-hah! has worked in both conventional and unconventional spaces, collaborating with interdisciplinary artists, performers, researchers and diverse communities. The spectrum of their work ranges from performance activism to immersive theatre, radio plays and lecture-performances, right through to stage productions. In doing so, they combine documentary and archival materials with embodied practices, memory and performative experiments. The result is work that bears witness to activism, opens up spaces for appearance, invites participation in the performance and/or in social reality, and devises alternative forms of political coexistence.

Dates:
Thu 22 Oct 2026, 8.00 pm Premiere
Fri 23 Oct 2026, 8.00 pm
Sat 24 Oct 2026, 8.00 pm
Sun 25 Oct 2026, 6.00 pm
Tickets...

Concept/Idea: Rebel-IST-hah!
Written and performed by Lisa Lucassen, Jule Flierl, Philinne Rinnert, Foad Esfahani, Azadeh Ganjeh Artistic Director Azadeh Ganjeh Research Azadeh Ganjeh
Dramaturgy: Foad Esfahani Set design: Philinne Rinnert
Artistic collaboration: Gali Har-Gil
Lighting and Technical Direction: Gilda Coustier; Intern: Bita Asadi
Production management: ehrliche arbeit – freies Kulturbüro

A production by Rebel-IST-hah! in collaboration with Ballhaus Ost. Funded by the Berlin Senate Department for Culture and Social Cohesion and by the Performing Arts Fund from funds provided by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media.