gardiZERO is a tribute to the power of transformation - be it the birth of a new life, the evolution of nature or the constant change within us. After nine productions with astonishing stage designs, Gardi Hutter is going the full monty and challenges the empty stage - showing that the void is not empty, but rather full of possibilities.
The play is a philosophical and entertaining exploration of nothingness as the beginning of all things. From apparent emptiness comes life, from chaos comes order and from nothing comes… everything.
With stubborn humour and magnificent physicality, the clowness embarks on a journey from the very first spasm to the complete transformation. After nine performances on death (theme of origin of comic masks), she now focuses on birth, exploring the moment in which nothing becomes… something.
Zero becomes… one.
Through minimal means and maximum expressiveness, Gardi Hutter plays between the opposites of emptiness and fullness, stillness and movement, absurdity and meaning.
In a world dictated by chaos and constant change, the clowness invites her audience to discover the beauty of origins, birth and ongoing transformation.
A celebration of fantasy: clownish, grotesque, poetic.
Written by: Gardi Hutter, Michael Vogel
Performing: Gardi Hutter
Direction: Michael Vogel (Artistic Director Familie Flöz)
Music: Neda Cainero, Pino Basile
Audio recording: Theo Bernardi
Costumes: Valentina Rinaldi
Wig: Nina Kleine
Lighting design: Reinhart Hubert, Theo Bernardi
Photos: Geri Born
In co-production with: Theaterhaus Stuttgart - Theatre Casino Zug - LAC Lugano Arte e Cultura
World premiere: 25.10.2025 Theaterhaus, Stuttgart
French premiere: 5.12.2025 Théàtre Gérard Philippe, Champigny/Paris
Swiss premiere: 16.1.2026 Theatre Casino Zug
Ticino premiere: 6.2.2026 LAC, Lugano
Music
CupaCupaZero
Musical composition by Neda Cainero and Pino Basile for the show Gardi Zero by Gardi Hutter & Michael Vogel.
gardiZERO takes a comical and philosophical approach to the nothingness, that is never nothing, and explores the moment when the nothing becomes... something.
What better instrument to accompany this quest than the Cupa Cupa? An ephemeral and mysterious instrument. Consisting of a tube, a piece of cloth and a straw, objects of nothing... yet a vibration is transmitted and a sound emerges, grows, transforms and returns to nothingness.
Neda Cainero composed the music that accompanies the show using and exploring only this instrument to create various atmospheres and motifs. She is accompanied by Pino Basile, inventor of the “Cupaphon”, who composed and performed “cupic” adaptations of some famous arias that accompany the protagonist's adventures.
Neda Cainero
