Let's imagine the following: The economic miracle after the Second World War took place not in Germany, but in Turkey, and German guest workers helped to rebuild Turkey. It was not Bonn that welcomed the new arrivals, but Istanbul. With a strikingly simple reversal of perspective and based on their own family experiences and questions they ask themselves about home and arrival, director Selen Kara, author Akın Emanuel Şipal and musician Torsten Kindermann tell the tragicomic life story of Bonn guest worker Klaus Gruber in the foreign and dazzling metropolis in ISTANBUL. In the 1960s, he had to leave behind his wife, children and his beloved football club, 1. FC Köln, and came to a country whose language was foreign to him. His wife Luise and children soon followed him. Initial difficulties were gradually overcome, and the family settled in. At some point, the children spoke Turkish better than German. The family settles into the vibrant city. Yet, a conflict remains: Klaus continues to build the house in Bonn he's been saving up for in Istanbul, even though he no longer seriously intends to return to Germany with his family. Between workbenches, bazaars, the vibrant nightlife, and teahouses (none of which serves hand-brewed filter coffee), we experience everyday life as an expat in German scenes, while the longing for happiness, love, and home is sung in Turkish. The focus is on the songs of Sezen Aksu, the queen of Turkish pop, who have accompanied three generations of Turkish society around the world.

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Istanbul

Schauspielhaus Bad Godesberg

"Would you have preferred to have belonged to a different nation (culture), and which one?" "How many times does a certain hope (e.g., a political one) have to go unfulfilled before you give up that hope, and can you do this without immediately creating another hope?" "Would you like to be immortal?" "Is there a classless sense of humor?"

What do we lack to be happy?

Werkstattbühne

When Donald Trump was first elected President of the United States in 2016, Elfriede Jelinek began writing AM KÖNIGSPEG (The Royal Road). In November 2024, two weeks after Trump's renewed victory, she published her epilogue to this royal road: FINAL VICTORY.

On the Royal Road / Final Victory

On October 7, 2023, the terrorist group Hamas carried out brutal massacres against the Israeli civilian population. Since then, the military conflict in the Middle East and around the world has escalated. The humanitarian situation in Gaza is life-threatening. Jews all over the world no longer feel safe. Antisemitic and anti-Muslim sentiments and crimes are on the rise. Protests are being cleared by the police. The fronts have become extremely entrenched. Many people seem to find it difficult to distinguish between a gesture of individual solidarity and the political differentiation of the conflict. How can one maintain individual and collective humanity in light of these events and the gruesome images in the media?

Christoph Gummert

Events

Past events

Apr 17 - May 15, 2025

Istanbul · Theater Bonn

Apr 15 - May 25, 2025

What do we lack to be happy? · Theater Bonn

About

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