Lulu's Baby

Lucy Wilke and Sahar Rahimi’s long-standing collaboration is rooted in a shared interest in marginalised female characters, the themes of disability and power, and body horror films. In their fourth joint production, they explore the themes of pregnancy, childbirth, motherhood and the desire to have children. Inspired and repelled by their own experiences, Rahimi and Wilke turn towards posthumanist utopias where human beings are created outside of the human body, and thus outside the uterus—a topic as old as humanity itself. Since animal experiments with sheep have already partially succeeded in mimicking uteruses, an ancient mythological theme could very well become reality. What consequences do these developments have for ethics and gender roles? Could pregnancy and birth outside the human body finally free the female* body from the burden of reproduction and thus represent a step towards gender equality? Would people who have been denied parenthood thus far finally be given the opportunity to start a family? Or would artificial uteruses deprive women* of the last bastion that has not yet been hijacked by a patriarchal-capitalist value system—the ability to give birth. Drawing on horror films and operating rooms, Lulu’s Baby is an ironic, utopian vision of the future that playfully invites us, through images both unsettling and beguiling, to reflect on the possibilities of community beyond gender constraints and maternal roles. • Lucy Wilke is an award-winning actress, singer, and dancer based in Munich. A permanent ensemble member of the Münchner Kammerspiele since 2020, she is known for her visionary, body-positive performances. Her work, including the acclaimed Scores that shaped our Friendship, earned her the prestigious Der Faust award and an invitation to the Berliner Theatertreffen. She also tours Europe with her band, blind and lame. • Sahar Rahimi, (°1981, Tehran, Iran) is a director, author, performance artist and curator. Her work straddles the boundaries between theatre, performance, installation, and video. She studied at the Institute for Applied Theatre Studies in Giessen and is co-founder of the performance group Monster Truck which received the prestigious Tabori Prize for its entire oeuvre. As a solo artist, Sahar Rahimi has staged several productions at venues across Europe. Together with Mark Schröppel she is artistic director of Brechtfestival Augsburg.