The Four of the Gas Station
A Ride Inside the Planet of Petroleum

The Four of the Gas Station

In 1930 the Germans still had a cutting edge film industry. Already in 1930 it was one of the first to create musical films in Europe. It sure was the first to make a film that took place mainly at a gas station. post theater reconstructed the Bauhaus gas station from a famous movie (“The Three Men from the Gas Station”) and made it into an exclusive mobile theater space. In there the audience (of four persons) experiences a multi-media performance that reflects on the film’s original themes from a contemporary perspective: can there be friendship in a world run by greed for fossile fuel? And what’s the connection between the NAZI’s Volkswagen-obsession and James Dean’s death in a Porsche? POST THEATER merges facts and fiction, media and live performance for this interdisciplinary theatrical work which not only talks about petroleum, but smells like it too.
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"The Four of the Gas Station" Installation
"The Four of the Gas Station" Installation
"The Four of the Gas Station" with Matthias Horn
"The Four of the Gas Station" with Matthias Horn
"The Four of the Gas Station" with Alexander Schröder
"The Four of the Gas Station" with Alexander Schröder
"The Four of the Gas Station" with Ralf Gelfort
"The Four of the Gas Station" with Ralf Gelfort
"The Four of the Gas Station" with Ralf Gelfort
"The Four of the Gas Station" with Ralf Gelfort
"The Four of the Gas Station" with Matthias Horn
"The Four of the Gas Station" with Matthias Horn
 
Premiere and Touring

Premiere:
Schloss Solitude
(Stuttgart 2010)

Seecond version: Radialsystem V
(Berlin 2014)

Press Quotes

“It is an unusual project with which POST THEATER currently is touring…. With verve it takes curves, it gets slippery on snow, and the chauffeur is speeding up you might get dizzy… Not all they talk about is invited by the theater makers…. A highly engaged as well as curious theater action….”
(Adrienne Braun in Stuttgarter Zeitung, 13. Mai 2010)

“A charming idea, and only one out of many in this POST THEATER piece. Schumacher and Tanahashi make their point in an unconventional way.”
(Armin Friedl in Stuttgarter Nachrichten, 11. Mai 2010)

“You will leave this discourse-roller-coaster shaken, with the fume of gas in your nose, longing for more.”
(Christian Bos in Kölner Stadtanzeiger, 14. Juni 2011)

Documentation
Credits
Artistic direction: HirokoTanahashi, Max Schumacher
Performers: Matthias Horn, Alexander Schröder 
Media art: Hiroko Tanahashi, Yoann Trellu
Painting: Lisa Fuss
Architecture: Christian Fuchs / ONarchitektur
Sound art: Sibin Vassilev
Car mechanic: Andre Herzig
Production management: Mario Stumpfe 
Petrolium-advisor: Ralf Gelfort
 
 
Funded by Hauptstadtkulturfonds and Ministry of Culture, Baden-Württemberg. Supported by Akademie Schloss Solitude, Radialsystem V.