"And Now: The World" (Mainfrankentheater)
This article was originally published in German. The English version is an automatic translation and may contain errors. The German original is authoritative.
Sibylle Berg equipped her work "Und jetzt: Die Welt" (or: "Es sagt mir nichts, das sogenannte Draußen"), which was among other things chosen as the best German-language play of 2014, with the following stage direction: "A text by Ms Berg for one person and several voices. Or differently." The director of the Würzburg Mainfrankentheater version, Catja Baumann, clearly took this recommendation to heart: on stage there are indeed three actresses (Anouk Elias, Klara Pfeiffer and Jojo Rösler) – in a sense three voices – but they all embody one and the same person.
The play, last performed on 12 July in Keller Z87, tells the story of the lives of three young women in their twenties: The nameless protagonist lives with her two friends Gemma and Minna in a shared flat. Whilst they once commanded respect on the street as a violent girl gang, everyday life has now caught up with them. Although: they are not quite so normal after all, earning their living through online trading in home-made Viagra pills.
The identity of the main character is, as it were, divided into three: the actresses are identically dressed, speak some passages in unison, but nonetheless display peculiarities in their monologues. From them (or her) we learn that Gemma and Minna follow the mainstream of young women searching for happiness or at least recognition from their surroundings: whilst she herself ponders her personal past, present and future at home, her friends go shopping or dance Zumba. In any case, they do not rebel sufficiently against society's expectations of women, which they actually despise.
That is precisely the common denominator of the protagonist's colourful world of thought: the struggle for her own subjectivity in a world in which one all too often seems to be an object. And she must wage this struggle even amidst the turmoil of her own emotional chaos, for she is in love with Lina, who constantly tells her about new conquests. Her relationship with her mother, whom she accuses of not being an emancipatory role model, is also complicated. Her despised stepfather Paul, in turn, appears as the addressee of the stocktaking.
The characters' communication takes place, incidentally – as how could it be otherwise in 2022 – exclusively digitally: constantly new WhatsApp messages are read aloud, Skype calls or telephone conversations are summarised. The resulting hectic pace mirrors the inner life of the nameless character. The content is enlivened by a generous dose of humour. The vitality of the actresses is gripping and especially the finale of the play leaves a deep impression. It is to be recommended to anyone who has an open ear for social criticism and is not deterred by uninhibited emotional outbursts.