Don’t freak out: if you think they're out to get you, you're not alone. Paranoia, once assumed to afflict only schizophrenics, may be a lot more common than previously thought. According to valid research nearly one in four Londoners, for instance, regularly has paranoid thoughts.

 

Still, some experts said that a tiny little bit of paranoia, in a world full of threat, may be kind of beneficial. Be on guard. See who's following you and what's happening. Not everybody is trying to get you, but some people may be. That‘s as comforting as it gets. The original ancient Greek meaning of paranoia was "derangement", or "departure from the normal", but also "delirium" or "high fever".

 

High Fever, departing from the comfort zone, sets out on a strange, deranged and savage journey into the minds of poets, writers, singers, and other explorers of the paranoid existence: Hunter S. Thompson, Jerry Stahl, Bruce Robinson, Eric Bogosian, Dan Fante, Patti Smith, Lydia Lunch, Dylan Thomas, William S. Burroughs, Sylvia Plath, Charles Bukowski, Jeffery Bernard, Lou Reed, Nico, Fever Ray, PJ Harvey, Laurie Anderson, Charlie Kaufman, and Francis Bacon, to name just a few.

 

This deliriously damaged, darkly comical performance on shame, excess and paranoia, directed by Maximilien Ludovicy, starring Philippe Thelen and live musician Jorge de Moura, may possibly haunt you forever. Beware: He who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man. After assisting several productions, Maximilien Ludovicy is going to give his stage director debut with High Fever at TNL.

 

Directed by: Maximilien Ludovicy

Set design: Christoph Rasche

Dramaturgy: Florian Hirsch

 

With: Jorge de Moura a.o.

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Production: Théâtre National du Luxembourg