Hidden Heartache

About

Hidden Heartache is a music theatre piece exploring communication beyond linguistic and cultural borders. Two Deaf and two hearing performers search for a shared physical language on stage, aiming to understand one another and to imagine a utopia that exists between different languages and cultures. Created by the Swiss collective ox&öl, the work emphasizes physical accessibility: new compositions by Ailís Ní Ríain (hearing) and Julie Herndon (Deaf) are transformed into the space using body-sound transducers so the music can be physically experienced by all audience members regardless of hearing ability. The compositions and the libretto were commissioned by the City of Munich for the Münchener Biennale.