About the work
“Slippery Slope” is a music-theatre piece by Yael Ronen and composer Shlomi Shaban, created in 2021 with the ensemble at Berlin's Maxim Gorki Theatre, with additional texts by Riah May Knight and Itai Reicher. Ronen also directed the premiere on 6 November 2021; the English-language original also exists in a German version by Irina Szodruch. The subtitle “Almost a Musical” points to its idiosyncratic mix of songs and drama.
Plot
Pop musician Gustav returns for a comeback concert after disappearing, having become infatuated with Sky, a young singer he discovered, and losing his composure once she succeeds without him. A journalist picks up the story, and the incident turns into a public debate about abuse of power in the music industry. The play lets several characters tell their own version of events, showing that no one involved is entirely uninvolved.
Cultural significance
“Slippery Slope” became one of the Gorki Theatre's most successful productions and was invited to the 2022 Berlin Theatertreffen. Reviews praised its blend of entertaining, musical- and Eurovision-style songs with a morally complex examination of cancel culture and cultural appropriation.