About this book
Simultan Krippenspiel (Concert bruitiste) by Hugo Ball reimagines the traditional nativity as a daring Dada sound-play that lives between ritual and uproar. Ball, a founder of the Dada movement and pioneer of Lautgedichte (sound poetry), strips the Christmas story to its sonic bones, telling it almost entirely through noises, vocal fragments and theatrical effects rather than conventional dialogue.
As an avant-garde play rooted in early 20th-century experimentalism, Simultan Krippenspiel challenges narrative expectation: bells, winds, animal calls and human utterances assemble into a collage that is as performative as it is poetic. The work captures the radical spirit of its moment—rejecting realism, embracing absurdity and foregrounding sound as meaning—while retaining a curious reverence for the source material. Listening feels like attending an unusual pageant where meaning emerges from textures, timing and contrast rather than plot.
Ideal for fans of experimental theatre, Dada and sound art, this audiobook offers a fresh holiday alternative and a key historical document for students of avant-garde performance. Listen if you want to experience Hugo Ball’s landmark experiment in sonic storytelling and a Christmas play that upends the expected and rewards attentive ears.
