Bab, siu archiv ed jeu

*You must know that this text is related to the
landscape.
You have to know that this story
is linked to agriculture.
Anyone who wants to tell it must have at least ten
Cows herded or milked in life
or several times in a row by
four o'clock in the morning.*

**Historia cumplexa dalla relaziun denter bab e fegl**

El center dil text da teater dad Asa Hendry stat la relaziun d'in giuven pur cun siu bab taschentus. Il monolog impressiunont da 14 maletgs raquenta co il fegl salva la historia dil bab – sco in archiv viv dils antenats. Turmentaus da cuolpa e turpetg stat el avon la decisiun: suandar il silenzi dil bab ni haver quitau da sia atgna stauncladad e depressiun.

Ils treis acturs grischuns Lorenzo Polin, Bistgaun Capaul e Lorin Könz, che han denter 15 e 75 onns, portan sin tribuna quella historia cumplexa dalla relaziun denter bab e fegl. La historia ei secavistrada nunseparablamein cun la cuntrada, cul silenzi e cun in vargau che il fegl sez enconuscha gnanc. L'inscenaziun ha festivau sia premiere il 2025 el Zuoz Globe ella rama dil festival da teater romontsch «festival Travers» e muossa la dimensiun da traumas transgeneraziunals ell'agricultura ed enquera fastitgs dalla violenza che biars affons, che han luvrau sco pasturs, han stuiu supportar sin las alps grischunas. El decuors dalla sera daventan ils fastitgs dad in lungatg visibels ed udibels che croda adina dapli en malura – igl ei in lungatg che raquenta dall'isolaziun e haregia suenter colligiaziun. Il toc vegn giugaus en treis idioms, vallader, puter e sursilvan.

Cun ina mischeida d'elements poetics e narrativs arva il text biling dad Asa Hendry novas perspectivas sin la creaziun teatrala romontscha. Per quei toc ha Hendry plinavon survegniu il Premi svizzer da litteratura 2026. L'inscenaziun dalla regissura Rebekka Bangerter, che dat in sguard amureivel sin umens e lur cavistraziuns cun rollas tradiziunalas denter teater dil vitg e chor viril, ei stada sin la shortlist dalla Sentupada Svizra da Teater 2026.

**A complex father-son story**

At the centre of this theatre text by Asa Hendry is the relationship between a young farmer and his taciturn father. The haunting monologue in 14 scenes tells how the son preserves his father's story – as a human archive of his ancestors, so to speak. Plagued by guilt and shame, he is faced with a decision: to follow his father's silence or to take care of his own exhaustion and depression.

The three Graubünden actors Lorenzo Polin, Bistgaun Capaul and Lorin Könz, who are between 15 and 75 years old, bring the tangled story of the father-son relationship to the stage. A story that is inextricably linked to the landscape, the silence and a past that the son himself does not know. The production premiered in autumn 2025 at the Zuoz Globe as part of the Rhaeto-Romanic theatre festival "festival Travers" and shows the dimension of transgenerational trauma in agriculture and searches for traces of the violence experienced by many shepherd children in the Graubünden Alps. In the course of the evening, traces of an increasingly decaying language become visible and audible, which tells of loneliness and demands connection. The piece is played in three idioms: Vallader, Puter and Sursilvan.

With a mixture of poetic and narrative elements, the bilingual text by Asa Hendry opens up new perspectives on Rhaeto-Romanic theatre. Hendry also received a Swiss Literature Prize 2026 for this work. The production by the young director Rebekka Bangerter, which takes a loving look at the men and their entanglements in traditional roles between village theatre and men's choir, was on the shortlist of the Swiss Theatre Meeting 2026.