Prisma Bros

»Understand me, appreciate me, praise me, love me. And you’d better do it in a way that I can believe. Otherwise, I can’t guarantee anything. Otherwise, I can’t rule out violent outbursts that could lead to deaths…«

With this covert, unspoken instruction manual for interacting with the average male ego, author Heinz Helle initiates an interrogation of images of masculinity in his play Prisma Bros – from the narcissistically inclined leader of a superpower to the overwhelmed stay-at-home dad. The voices of white, middle-aged cis-men are placed in a dialogued with their younger selves, from back when they were growing up together.

What kind of men have we become? And how to we want to be? The camouflage vests are taken off. Honest, analytic, and poetic, with moments of drama and a good dose of humour, Helle scrolls through scenarios in which men wrestle with their own concept of masculinity, set against the backdrop of care work, overwhelming demands, fears, fantasies of escape, stereotypes, and global politics. The chorus-like text jumps back and forth between past and present, with its language and rhythm growing into a powerful force in search of change and connection.