Let’s Play I Am Old and Tired

Total Refusal & Theater im Bahnhof

An evening of theatre within a video game: with the aid of several gaming laptops and under live direction, the Viennese media guerrilla group Total Refusal and the collective Theater im Bahnhof create a captivating performance right before the audience’s eyes. At the centre is the figure of a weary hero who wishes to lead a secluded life in the mountains of a video game – quite a contrast to the typical, eternally young and motivated avatar. For whilst the main characters in video games usually start out as youthful up-and-comers and learn to dominate the world as the game progresses, their bodies know neither age nor frailty, illness nor listlessness. But what if the avatar is old, indecisive and unmotivated? What if they have grown weary of an excess of stimuli, impulses and information, and are actually too exhausted to bother with their quests any longer?The dream of retreating to a simpler life in nature is as old as capitalism itself. And yet, in times of climate collapse and disastrous tech-fascism, it is more tempting than ever. Weariness and exhaustion are ever-present and persistent symptoms of a chronically ailing economic logic. The video game becomes a refuge, a digital cabin by a digital lake: a safe space and a reliable promise of distraction and adventure. A story about escapism and exhaustion, about growing older and fatigue – and about the question of what superpowers a hero might develop who no longer wants to carry on fighting.

Next date: Let's Play I Am Old and Tired

• Date Wednesday, 28/October/2026 19:00 ( 1 more date )
• Venue Hebbel am Ufer - HAU3
• Address Tempelhofer Ufer 10, 10963 Berlin-Kreuzberg
• Price from €15.00

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