Pipelines trailer

Pipelines began in 2020 as an idea by German playwright Magdalena Schrefel. She had been commissioned by Schauspielhaus Graz to write a text about oil pipelines, inspired by the essay “How to Blow Up a Pipeline” by provocative Swedish author and climate activist Andreas Malm.

Magdalena and the team in Graz thought it would interesting to consider the issues in the play from a cross-European perspective. They approached ETC and suggested collaborating with other theatres in the network. In total, 5 theatres from 5 countries joined the project, each commissioning a local author to work on the subject of pipelines and energy supply in Europe more generally.

Pipelines aims to circulate words instead of oil, drawing energy from cultural exchange rather than fossil fuel. It also hopes to showcase how European collaboration and political engagement can foster visibility for burning issues - highlighting local perspectives on global issues, and helping to solve commonly-shared problems together.

With the support of ETC, the five participating ETC Member theatres have selected the following authors: 

Magdelena Schrefel - Schauspielhaus Graz (Austria)

Ian De Toffoli - Théâtres de la Ville (Luxembourg)

Simone Spiteri - Teatru Malta (Malta)

Alex Lorette - Théâtre de Liège (Belgium)

Elsa Demo - National Theatre of Albania (Albania)