Mercury Rising emerges from a phenomenological excavation of language. Created in collaboration with and performed by Dawn Jani Birley, Rita Mazza, and Lukas Malkowski, the performance charts both ancient and future non-linear languages, navigating the terrain between communication, gesture, agency, and physicality.
World premiere
21 – 23 November 2025
HAU Hebbel am Ufer, Berlin
Mercury Rising positions the body as a volatile site of discourse—a place where meaning is made, unmade, and transformed through movement.
While inviting its audience to decipher an abundance of signs, the work also explores the slippery nature of interpretation and ultimately releases us from the need for the literal or the explanatory. Incorporating multiple sign languages, and created for all audiences—including Deaf and hearing audiences—Mercury Rising addresses the complexity of human communication on the brink of a paradigm shift. What we share, in the end, is not certainty—but the impossibility of full understanding, and the urge to connect nonetheless.
Choreography: Jefta van Dinther
Created and performed by: Rita Mazza, Dawn Jani Birley, Lukas Malkowski
Costumes and stage: Cristina Nyffeler
Lighting design: Jonatan Winbo
Sound design: David Kiers, including “Run for Your Life (feat. La Chat)” by Clipping, “Cangilón” by Nicolás Jaar and “Momentaries” by Bjarni Gunnarsson
Backdrop surface: Gonçalo Sena
Dramaturgy: Gabriel Smeets
Artistic advice: Maja Zimmermann
Rehearsal director: Tomislav Feller
Technical direction: Andrea Parolin and Fabian Bleisch
Light: Fabian Bleisch
Sound: Andrea Parolin
Management: Sven Neumann
Diffusion: ART HAPPENS
Production management: Uta Engel and Romy Hansford-Gerber
Financial management: transmissions GmbH (DE) and Interim kultur AB (SE)
Mercury Rising is produced by Jefta van Dinther
Co-production: Norrlandsoperan Umeå, Cndc – Angers (Accueil Studio), Dansens Hus Stockholm, Dansnät Sverige, HAU Hebbel am Ufer Berlin and PACT Zollverein Essen
Funded by: Berlin Senate Department for Culture and Social Cohesion and Fonds Darstellende Künste
In 2025 Jefta van Dinther was funded by the Berlin Senate Department for Culture and Social Cohesion and Swedish Arts Council
| Date | Performance | City Country | Organisation/Venue |
|---|---|---|---|
| 21.11.2025 | Mercury Rising (world premiere) | Berlin (de) | HAU / Hebbel am Ufer |
| 22.11.2025 | Mercury Rising (world premiere) | Berlin (de) | HAU / Hebbel am Ufer |
| 23.11.2025 | Mercury Rising (world premiere) | Berlin (de) | HAU / Hebbel am Ufer |
| 12.12.2025 | Mercury Rising | Essen (de) | PACT Zollverein |
| 13.12.2025 | Mercury Rising | Essen (de) | PACT Zollverein |
| 04.02.2026 | Mercury Rising | Umeå (se) | Norrlandsoperan |
| 08.02.2026 | Mercury Rising | Kungsbacka (se) | Kungsbacka teater |
| 10.02.2026 | Mercury Rising | Örebro (se) | Hjalmar Bergmanteatern |
| 13.02.2026 | Mercury Rising | Knivsta (se) | CIK |
| 15.02.2026 | Mercury Rising | Jönköping (se) | Kulturhuset Spira |
| 17.02.2026 | Mercury Rising | Malmö (se) | Dansstationen / Skånes Dansteater |
| 18.02.2026 | Mercury Rising | Malmö (se) | Dansstationen / Skånes Dansteater |