Pain Camp

Seven women in a renowned, surreal pain clinic: in the eternal loop of therapies and conversations with doctors, the patients try out different medications, do pottery classes, exercise programmes – but the pain remains. By all appearances, nothing is happening with the women in the clinic, and yet everything is caught up in a constant, almost imperceptible motion. Times passes differently here. And the aging “female” body is a central motif. The language and dialogues are based on real conversations and clinical questionnaires – and are enriched by chorus-like passages, poetry, and performative images of nature that open up a new dimension, posing the questions: Where do we find solace? And what might a journey through pain look like?

The play Pain Camp is a plea for honest listening, for more mindfulness and for a community based on solidarity. In this work, Patty Kim Hamilton seeks out the textures of everyday life, its humour and tenderness, the value of simplicity in the face of the abyss. In the process, she discovers a virtuosic language for something that is near impossible to capture in words.