right here i mean you hear the silence of the plaza. ethan is a true new yorker and as the song almost says if you can make it through the crisis then you can make it anywhere. you're watching news live from berlin david levine's is up next with arts and culture alex bicester thanks for watching. can the they were. and in the end it's a me you're not allowed to stay here anymore we will send you back. are you familiar with this. with the smugglers with lions and. what's your story. 'd with numbers and women especially in victims of violence. take

part and send us your story trying always to understand this new culture. another visitor yes you want to become a citizen. in so migrants your platform for reliable information. it sounds like an actor's worst nightmare going on stage to perform a play with no preparation no idea even what the play is about and yet the play white rabbit red rabbit has been performed thousands of times in dozens of languages talk to the playwright coming up and. the cool tale of the drug war a little known opera that could snag

a grammy this weekend those stories coming up but 1st a possible game changer for the art market just half a year ago the artist beatle had never sold a work but on thursday christie's auction off a digital collage by the artist for over $69000000.00 the 3rd highest auction price ever for a living artist it's also the highest price ever for a purely digital artwork the piece containing images the artists have been posting online daily since 2007 sold as an n f t a non fungible toking a form of encrypted data that can't be replicated the artist whose real name is mike winkleman says it's a new day for digital art there are thousands of artists and that is something that you know i sort of really hope comes from this and i'm going to be pushing or is sort of going back actually and looking at the history of digital art over the last 20 years digital artists design websites they decide apps they decide on you know

t.v. shows how t.v. shows look they design how characters look at movies and you know. that's all digital art so they have a huge huge impact on that visual language of the moral and so i think it now be have the classic demonstrate look at them as you know real artists i'm super super excited about. the euro vision song contest has told bellerose to change its tune or get out they say the song bellerose submitted breaks the contest rules against political entries it features the lyrics out to toe the line words that feller's opposition figures say support the regime of strongman leader alexander because shane crow and mark widespread protests in the country following last year's elections. more music news and a piece that still very much in the running for this weekend's grammy awards

a recording of the dwarf by austrian composer onyx on doubt some minsky is competing for best opera recording sung by the berlin it's a chance for the world to get to know an opera that is rarely performs. on it's the 18th century and the spanish royal court is celebrating the birthday of the king's daughter one gift in particular is causing a sensation it's a human being a dwarf a gift from a sultan the man doesn't know he's a little person because he's never seen himself in a mirror. 6 the one act opera was written in 1922 inspired by oscar wilde story the birthday of the infanta director to be as cuts a has brought the tale into the present day he sees it as less a drama about an individual artist and more of

a description of the state of society. you can read it as a very individual story regardless of age or size that's what i found to be the crucial issue of all the characters in the piece not just the dwarf have that great discrepancy between their self image and their public image how they want to be perceived and how they think they are perceived and how the others really see them . the dwarf's attempt to win the heart of the princess with a love song only appears to succeed. i am a tragic story takes its course as the dwarf ends up seeing himself through the unloving eyes of his beloved. the. how do we see ourselves how do others see us and how do we deal with being different director cuts or does without makeup and elaborate costumes simply casting 2 people in the

main role. of going from isn't quite that i decided to bring the conflict of interior images the conflict between the self image and the external image of the character onto the stage through 2 characters and a cast the title role with a tenor and with an actor who corresponds to the image one already has when reading the libretto mainly of an actor of small stature for me that was the way to really make the inner conflict theatrical. and this approach to casting works thanks to the excellent performance by mick morris may not an actor with dwarfism and the extraordinary singing by american tenor david but philip. was. the stage production has already been celebrated by audiences in berlin if the video production wins

a grammy award this weekend that would certainly help bring it to the attention of an international audience. was. also this weekend actors and over 120 places from tokyo to new york el salvador to mumbai are performing the same play and none of them knows what it's about with no one her soles and no director the work white rabbit red rabbit by iranian playwright nasim so a month where is perhaps the perfect choice for a day of action calling attention to the plight of theaters one year and the coronavirus pandemic. this unusual play always begins the same way ok so i have just been the envelope i've begun to read and i

have no idea what's going to happen. there are no were her celebs no real script and no director the actors get their instructions once they're on stage where they slip into the role of a 29 year old theater director from iran there is a bit of a plot but that's a secret it's all part of the concept and it's meant to allow the actors to be more spontaneous in their improvisation that's also why each actor is only allowed to perform the piece once in the meantime thousands of actors have done that including rami khouri my preparation is to not prepare you know not google not think about it too much actually i just want to be vulnerable as possible with it because. i think the whole point of broadway producers tom courtesy and devlin elliott came across the piece at the edinburgh fringe festival noticed that there was a play written by an iranian playwright and thought that would be interesting to check out and within minutes we realized we were seeing something we'd never seen

before for their 2016 production and new york's west theater they were able to recruit a number of acting stars that helped bring the play with a secret plot to the world's attention. and i'm joined now by theater creator nasim soleimani poor who lives in berlin but wrote the play white rabbit red rabbit in 2010 when he was still in iran so now i see him you've said that this device of keeping the play a secret even for the actor was born out of necessity what do you mean by that. well hello to you and everyone thank you just like in 2000 and among you might know i was a still in iran and in war and i was really keen to to do a show globally so i thought maybe i can shift some paradigm. in that in the future as like a structure came up we did. something with you supposed to be performed fight and

theme quite a 1st time with an actor in front of a live audience and the actor basically is reading your voice now i've got a question about the story so is there any actors out there who might perform this play some day stop watching right here but messi and i understand that the end of the play there's the actor who's playing who's basically instructed to do something terrible to him or herself it's a kind of test whether the audience will intervene why did you include that. well i think it's a choice you're right. david i strongly believe that we live in a very beautiful but yes very very troubled world we have black lives matter but climate change is real and you and i are speaking something that is often a catastrophe in myanmar so question is do we basically react to those things

was or the borders of our of the media and how much do we push in which direction what are that red line i think that's what that's what the play is is trying to to to to explore with the help of the homer and the audience and he told me that when this performance is done live as is usually the case there is actually a lot of audience interaction it is the idea happens at all didn't even they they try you know audience members to go on stage and stuff to show friends environment like you were going to do a show where we're going in may and mexico tomorrow inside a prison so different context as i bring it brings and brings in different you know moments and with this black was speaking of the white rabbit red rabbit is being performed in over 120 places this saturday's some virtually and you can't possibly be there to see all of the 120 performances in one day is there

a show that you're particularly excited to see are you going to be participating in any way. i mean i look at the list today i was doing good we had like what mama mama you know 1 you have to stumble i want china new york london and some of those plays i have of being there personally can perform i want to talk about you know the mexican company or he showed across the netherlands i've yet only find one theater in crete different venues in the land there are simon payment peter doing shows and the audience without a choice on whom to basically pick which show room part of the show it went to from actors i would try to do sneak peak you know if you'd get the difference so if they are on you know most definitely i will do that well it's not a month for thanks so much for coming on arts and culture congratulations on this work of art which is now 11 years old and still as relevant as ever and as popular as ever thank you very much i also want to thank you all removal for initiating

it's an old heave great preview fairs and the actors are going to take a look thanks so much. of our more culture news now england's royal shakespeare company is harnessing 3 d. video game technology and live stream performances of a midsummer night's dream technology transforms real life actors into virtual avatars actors in the trip say they believe the once radical 16th and 17th century playwright shakespeare would approve the performances are free of charge but viewers can pay $10.00 pounds to interact with the cast as virtual fireflies. and to leave you now with some new works by french artist site proof uses sand and grass as his canvas and the last 2 years he's taken his bio degradable paints to 3 continents painting giant linked hands he says the project is all about friendship

there's his latest from and in. like. everything seems possible here. 989. might think is where the peaceful revolution began. today it's a creative and driving the truck less. so says just writes i'm afraid if you're the city's past and present checking. off v.w.

. what secrets lie behind. discover new adventures in 360 degree. and explore fascinating world heritage sites. w. world heritage 368 getting up now.