Panta Rhei is ancient Greek and means everything flows. This statement originates from the circle of the pre-Socratic philosopher Heraclitus (500 BC) in Ephesus. He saw life as an image of a river that is constantly flowing and whose beginning and end are hidden. He called the only permanent thing logos, a kind of law or spirit, something that is not subject to change. The river has always been a source of deep inspiration: Ignatius of Loyola had such a powerful vision while looking at the river near Manresa in Spain that, in his own words, he would have given away all the other insights of his life for it. H. Hesse's Siddhartha found the deepest wisdom in the river at the end of his eventful life as a ferryman. A radio interview gave me the inspiration for the brutal second part of the play: after one of the many oil disasters in the sea, an expert was asked whether the sea could ever recover. He replied that the sea would certainly recover, but that it would take much longer. The question was rather whether humans then would still exist. This is how I imagined man entering creation at 5 to 12 o'clock, creating the flow himself in his own way, transforming it into war and brutality and letting it silt up. Heraclitus' realisation that a Logos rests in the flow, which stands above everything, inspired me to create the peaceful middle section. (Carl Rütti)
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