To cry every last tear. That is the journey Lisa Laurent undertakes in this performance. The wizard is not real is a choreography of grief. Alone, half-dressed, equipped only with a small table and a microphone, the performer is inconsolable. Her lament spills over, her body taking over the space. She tries to move yet seems trapped in her own tears. Every attempt to regain composure falters. Gradually, she draws closer to the audience: will she find comfort there?

Winner of the Swiss Performance Prize 2025, Laurent confronts us with emotions in their most uncomfortable form. It is time, she suggests, to embrace vulnerability rather than pretend we can carry on “as normal” when such upheavals pass through us. With The wizard is not real, the artist-in-residence at Sévelin 36 grapples with the absurdity and grotesque beauty of sadness, opening a space where individual fragilities can finally be seen, shared and collectively held.