Vereinigte Bühnen Bozen: Blutbuch von Kim de l’Horizon

The narrator in “Blutbuch” does not identify as either male or female. When the grandmother – in Swiss German Großmeer – develops dementia, the narrator recalls their childhood in a Swiss suburb and sets out to discover their roots. How is our origin inscribed in our bodies? What role does our mother tongue play, and how can we free ourselves from it? The narrator delves into the past, searches for the story of the copper beech, so important in their childhood, and investigates the non-traditional female bloodline. They write letters to their Großmeer, break the silence, and in doing so transform shame into a feeling of comfort in their own non-binary body.

Kim de l’Horizon is a non-binary person from Switzerland who in 2022 received both the German Book Prize and the Swiss Book Prize for the autofictional novel Blutbuch. De l’Horizon sees writing as a collective healing process, questions gender assignments, and seeks to reread identity. The moving and multi-layered generational narrative comes to the stage in Bolzano in a version by Anna Stiepani. The acclaimed director will explore and break the boundaries between text and body with her ensemble, using different forms of storytelling.

Kim de l’Horizon’s utopian vision suggests that we are connected to one another and to everything around us: to other people, to animals, to fungi, to woven structures, to stones. There are no boundaries, separations, or limits. Instead, there is a shared togetherness that can negotiate things in an open, empathetic, and loving way. We aim to follow this idea scenically and visually. This requires great creativity and imagination, as there is no single clear figure to work with. We must consider – also in relation to social, political, and historical contexts – which thought and feeling are important at the moment and how to convey them. This can range from performance and music, slow motion and time-lapse, dance and pole dance, to a musical scenic reading – endlessly.

Anna Stiepani / Director
Premiere: January 17, 2026