Daphne Sander

3 – JULIA As one of the players put it: "It's like she tries one thing, and when it doesn't work, she tries the next, and when that doesn't work, she tries something that's the opposite of those... She just is so sure of her*self* – that she can go on going on that way, looking for what's right." 2062 • von Daphne Sander • frei nach Orwell • Regie: Jakub Kavin • Produktionsleitung: Ute Bauer • Kooperation Theater Arche & Borg H12 • Premiere am 16.2.2026 • KARTEN ONLINE UNTER THEATERARCHE.AT #theater #liveperformances #orwell #dystopia #writer

"WE'RE WATCHING YOU – BECAUSE WE CARE." 2 – THE STATE The second major change I made while adapting Orwell's 1984 was to reimagine the ideology of the ruling government. Rather than look to historical authoritarian states for slogans and manipulation tactics, I drew some of my inspiration from the contemporary progressive landscape. This way, the regime doesn't stand as a faceless, abstractly hostile monolith, as is often the case in dystopian stories. Instead, the average Central European theater-goer gets to experience interesting ideological tensions throughout the performance. Here are some (thought)crimes from the world of the play: - Using the word 'sex':: It has been eliminated by law from the language as, historically, the term has largely referred to and thus promotes patriarchal power structures. - Owning digital information systems, for communication or private use:: Computer processors are deemed to have a harsher environmental impact than paper filing. Also, toxic screentime and (fake) news fatigue are now things of the past 💆‍♀️🌸 - In general, data – historical, scientific, or personal – is overseen solely by the state. This is framed as a public health measure, as it reduces the cognitive burden on the individual. - And also, of course, private data, private property, and individual rights are all archaic notions that bar us from a more enlightened, deeper-reaching care for others– Etc. The conversation I had about this with the players – all of them around 16 years old – was delightfully sharp and thoughtful. Many of them reported having been challenged by the ideological twist during the months of rehearsing the play. The unanimous feedback was that the premise fostered a more thought-provoking experience than the more didactic, overtly left-wing scripts common in European theater today tend to. 2062 • von Daphne Sander • frei nach Orwell • Regie: Jakub Kavin • Produktionsleitung: Ute Bauer • Kooperation Theater Arche & Borg H12 • Premiere am 16.2.2026 • KARTEN ONLINE UNTER THEATERARCHE.AT #theater #liveperformances #orwell #dystopia #writer

"HIS GREATEST FLAW, ALAS, IS THIS: HE ISN'T A PHILOSOPHER" 1 – WINSTON One of the main changes I made to the original story as I adapted "1984" for a youth theater was to sharpen the characters. It makes sense for Orwell's Winston and Julia to be as dishwater-colored as they are – they are worn to spinelessness by decades of authoritarian oppression. Orwell's story shows a regime that has brought its people beyond the capacity to rebel. But for a youth play, I wanted something more salient and more alive. Shuttling between formulating a new theme and drawing characters who could have held my attention at age 16, I came up with a new motor to drive Orwell's plot. The new theme is the source of idealism in an oppressive regime. And the characters that led me there – Winston, Julia and O'Brien – differ first of all in their, for lack of a better word, personal idealism: their attitude towards their own potential. Julia I modelled after aspects of my teenage self. O'Brien is quite essentialized in Orwell's original. Winston, however, I had a harder time carving out. I try to write characters who are, in a broad sense, archetypical. But against this standard, Orwell's Winston kept crumbling in my hands: How can you paint in essential strokes someone whose sense of essence is volatile and, ultimately, disappears? How does one make an integrated character out of someone who gives up on himself? It took me a brainstorm and a half to understand that (obviously!) Winston's consistent principle lies in *shying* from staying consistent with himself. In not quite getting there. In touching with his potential for integrity – and shrinking back. Making this the continuous theme of Winston's behavior throughout the play allowed me to sharpen the role while maintaining a connection to Orwell's original. 2062 • von Daphne Sander • frei nach Orwell • Regie: Jakub Kavin • Produktionsleitung: Ute Bauer • Kooperation Theater Arche & Borg H12 • Premiere am 16.2.2026 • KARTEN ONLINE UNTER THEATERARCHE.AT #theater #liveperformances #orwell #dystopia #writer

I THINK, THEREFORE – I PROBABLY AM WRONG 0 – OUVERTÜRE (Auszüge) - Text excerpts from the first scene of my adaptation of Orwell's "1984" for a youth theater group here in Vienna - The first scene is written as a musical number – merry scepticism and self-irony become the literal overture to authoritarian control. The chorus members cheerfully let us into the post-truth condition of their society: Fake news fatigue and a distrust of information channels have hardened into the cultural default. And the chorus takes it a step further: Truly knowing that true knowledge is impossible, they see themselves as liberated of the effort and arrogance of critical thinking. Truth, they sing, is an outdated, conservative notion. Scepticism of the senses themselves allows them to discard the evidence of their eyes in favor of loyalty to the Party. In short: nothing is true, only power is real – and so, one dictatorship is better than none! Jazz hands! 2062 • von Daphne Sander • frei nach Orwell • Regie: Jakub Kavin • Produktionsleitung: Ute Bauer • Kooperation Theater Arche & Borg H12 • Premiere am 16.2.2026 • KARTEN ONLINE UNTER THEATERARCHE.AT

💫 visit Vienna 💫

a summer good enough to be true ☀️

was blessed enough to have Thea's gaze be part of things for a while // Es ist ja nicht der letzte Abschied und nicht der erste. Wie oft standen wir nicht schon, die Blicke tief, der Abstand etwas unecht, eine von uns im stillen Zugwagon. So voreinander voneinander wegsein; kein Grinsen, dem die sanfte Schwermut weicht. Mit Freunden ist man durchaus auch Romantisch! The difference is: mit Freunden fällt es leicht. Es i̲s̲t̲ ja nicht der erste Abschied und nicht der letzte. Wie oft standen wir nicht schon die Blicke tief, der Abstand etwas unecht, eine von uns im stillen Zugwagon.

(𝘋𝘪𝘦 𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘯 𝘕𝘰𝘵𝘪𝘻𝘦𝘯 𝘢𝘶𝘧 𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘏𝘢𝘯𝘥, 𝘋𝘪𝘦 𝘳𝘢𝘩𝘮𝘵 𝘥𝘪𝘳 𝘫𝘢 𝘯𝘪𝘦𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘪𝘯 𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘵 𝘴𝘪𝘦 𝘢𝘶𝘴.) // SKIZZE Die Fenster hingen seltsam an den Wänden-- Ein Häuserbogen bog sich so und so-- Ein Mann mit Kinn und so und solchen Händen Beeindruckte, mein ich, durch sein Chapeau. Ich komm auf einen rosenen Gedanken, Den ein Blick ruft, ein anderer verstummt. Auf meinem Heimweg kann ich nichts als schwanken -- Die Straße ist auf vierzehn Weisen krumm. Wohin mit diesen viel zu vielen Skizzen Der viel zu vielen Form der Gegenwart? Erkennungen des ganzen Ganzen blitzen, Erleuchten mich auf die und jene Art.

Und dann wurd es Wien// As part of the continuous alchemy of turning life into gold, I have moved to where it looks -- and feels -- like this ✨️

War für einen moment in karlsruhe-- u.a. um als outside eye/kontinuitätsfee/ dramaturgie-allrounder bei einem supi kurzweiligen abend mitzuhelfen! pascal und peter sind einmal die liebsten und dann haben sie auch noch eine ganz arg charmante sache zusammengebastelt. es ist eine mischung aus escape game, krimitheater und cocktail-probe, und macht entsprechend an allen fronten spaß. Got to unleash my "i don't need adderall to have a good time" energy onto someone else's project for once, and it was so fun! I for sure could stand more work like this. My friends Peter and Pascal put together a lovely little evening that crosses escape-room type puzzle solving with narrative theater with just having a good ol time at a bar with your friends. I got to help develop script continuity and deepen themes, and ended up leading a little project workshop to hash through potential edits. Really lovely to work beyond my own desk, and in such kind company too. And suuch a welcome little dip into experience-oriented narrative theater. It's a format I'm extremely interested in, and this was a cool and kind context in which to collect a precedent Toitoitoi to the pals for the premiere ⚡️⚡️⚡️ MOONLIGHT FIZZ Premiere 14.3. im Kulturcafé Labyrinth Stuttgart.

Not dark academia, not light academia, but lush academia. // On all my study trips to Greece, my camera decided to cop out and go blurry. So, here's me leaning into it with a dreamy little hypothetical sequence. Words by Sappho and Konstantinos Kavafys, transl. by γουrς τρυλγ¹, Keeley and Sherrard. I'd love to make an academia film, and I hate all academia films. Mine would be sexy and self-aware, but sincere. Between an elaborate plot (¿an art heist?) and many übereducated monologues (¿in ancient Greek?) it would convey a merry sort of love for the beauty and the rabbitholes and, most importantly, for the radiance of it all. Remember when the air was golden? Or, as Sappho would say, more golden than gold? We stand on rich ground, people. Buried in it are examples of Whole people, who relished to the last drop the reality of living on earth as beings of body and soul. Homer's world was neither all dark nor all light -- but all lush. Every greek god is a paragon of himself, for better or for worse. How many people do you know who, for better or for worse, are paragons of themselves? I am addicted to my limits and consequently ever-hungry for examples of people and experiences that fill theirs out. It's this hunger for fullness that fueled my past academic life. And it is this that still moves me to wrestle through archaic texts, fragments, to flirt with the shadows². The motivation is all love and lust, no paper prestige. The Greeks taught me to drink from wide cups with curved edges, so that more of me can touch the wine. They taught me to love my friends as deeply as my lovers, and my lovers as freely as my friends. This doesn't mean mindless hedonism, but very much the opposite. The conviction that emanates silently, I want to say: innocently, from so many plays and poems, and from so many syllogistical twists and turns is -- that one ought to, that obviously one ought to 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌 𝒂𝒔 𝒇𝒖𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒂𝒔 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒍𝒔, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒗𝒊𝒄𝒆 𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒂. Every moment can be maximized if one lets one's mind fall in love with it. Every sound of the Iliad can be sung. 🍷🌺 🧜‍♀️ (footnotes in the comments)

happy Romantics // All my love lies with the people who, bizarre though it might seem to some, inspire me to be *more* radical, *more* dramatic and *less* patient. Dazzled by how much time i got to spend around them this year. It's almost close to how much it should be.