STREET CABARET

In a cold cold winter
a mother, father and two little girls
started off for a long trip.

Nothing more but two big bags,
was all they could carry
on the road far from home.

But they needed no more
for it was hot and sweaty
under the banana palm tree.

In a new land
it happened that
the guitar learned new songs
the adventures went along with new movements
and thoughts became as big as never before

A deep reflection of Europe and the world in 30 minutes.

     Seeing different places, meeting new people, acknowledging other cultures degrade habitual thinking. Travel provides you the anonymity to risk new ways of being in the world. However, travelling can be both wonderful and horrifying experience. Most of people travel for a few days, weeks or a limited period of time to escape their daily routine. What kind of neurological processes happen in the brain when you travel for months or even years and how does travel activity influence your behavior? 

     Having a permanent change of countries and languages, a constant search for a bed and warm meal, being continuously surrounded by unknown faces in their own culture can also become a routine. Is a `world traveler` an occupation? Can travelling make you a junkie? Can travelling ever disconnect you from your own culture? Can it really? 

     The performance „Where you come from?“ was inspired by travelling only. After 12 months in Southeast Asia with his wife and two daughters, Mikel Ulfik has never stopped being an artist. He left behind the daily routine in Berlin and resigned from well-established theatres in Germany to return to his artistic roots; he is back performing on the street. Now he is on the stage with everything he owns right now: his family, a backpack and a guitar. 

     In “Where you come from?” Mikel relieves us his emotional world as a globe trotter through songs and movement. Far from his hometown his smile is bigger, his voice clearer and his heartbeat slowlier. Will he ever return?   

    
Director: Tina Kukovic-Ulfik
Actors: Mikel Ulfik, Pia Shirin Ulfik, Sara Yasmin Ulfik
Songs: Mikel Ulfik
Authors: Tina Kukovic-Ulfik, Mikel Ulfik

Marivan (Iran); 7th Street Theater Festival: best actor, 2nd best director, 2nd best scenery

The Perhentian Island, Malaysia – July 2012

Phnom Penh, Cambodia – August 2012

Marivan, Iran (Kurdistan) – September 2012

Ljubljana, Slovenia – October 2012

Berlin, Germany – July 2013

Darbandikhan, Iraq (Kurdistan) – October 2013