Nightrace in Zürich

Ein post-alpines Skistück mit Sturz von Fynn Malte Schmidt

This cannot end well. (...) He drifts (...) from the ideal track, rowing with his arms, his upper body. And then, (...) he somehow saves himself because he (...) always presses his skis into the snow in such a way that they pull him swiftly downhill, even when all seems lost. (...) This could not end well, and yet in the end it did.
(From: SZ, Odermatt in Olympia - Frühe Krönung eines Hochbegabten)

“Every time I've been on that start gate, I have given everything I have to give all that love back to you – so thank you for that, and thanks for me. I'm out.”
(Lucas Braathen announces his temporary retirement at a press conference because the ski association has banned him from a lucrative advertising deal)

Error in the flat section! Hundredths of a second lost at the start! Outside ski! It's just a matter of millimeters. Ski edges scraping over icy slopes. Careers are decided by fractions of a second. Ambition. Dedication. Discipline and stamina. Down below, the crowd cheers, in front of the screens, fans talk shop. In the studio, the female athletes chat from the heart, modern heroines and advertising media in personal union. For now. A kilometer of artificial snow slope costs one million francs. The glacier doesn't care if you ski on it – it's a thing of the past. Is there a future for ski racing after the snow?

A sports studio becomes a showcase for winter sports enthusiasts, but also a space for reflecting on the performance paradigm. Ski waxing, mental training, material science – rituals of a tight-knit community that is currently losing its foundation. Can it work? It's about performance and passion, technique and training, victory or fall, and the inevitable question: how much longer can we do this?

Fynn Malte Schmidt and his team create a new immersive theater work, half re-enactment, half exercise in saying goodbye, humorous, playful, and full of love for the material.

PS: This production was originally planned and announced with an immersive outdoor venue - unfortunately, these plans fell through in the final stages of the approval process! This does not detract from the stage work, on the contrary: getting back up after falling is, after all, part of every great sportswoman's story.

Suitable for people aged 12 and up
Language German / partly English
Duration approx. 100 minutes

Supported by Landis+Gyr

Thank you Axel Halder und die Borer Lift AG, SwissSki, Skiclub ZüriLeu für den grossen Traum; Tobias, Marianne, den Kolleginnen vom SRF für die Einblicke; Seyfullah Ergin und Ladina Caduff von der Beisheim-Stiftung; dem Verein Zitrone, Marcella Incardona (Fundus Schauspielhaus), Thomas Grimshaw für seine Skiausrüstung; Monika und Urs Bircher für ihre Skiausrüstung; Lukas Octamas Rental, Kamerawerk; Aline Bavier, Ismael Calco, Patrice Gerber; Lukas Wäger fürs Schlagzeug; Valentin fürs Alpenfoto, Prof. Dr. Siegfried Nagel, Alex Götzl und Rabea Grand für Offenheit und Inspiration, sowie allen anderen, die uns unterstützt haben.