"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

Paula meets Paul in front of her apartment building. They don't know each other and pass each other by. Everything could have turned out differently. That's often how it is. She works in a supermarket and is a single mother. At a funfair, she meets Colly – not exactly a jackpot, but at least a welcome distraction from her monotonous everyday life. And who knows, maybe he's the love of her life. She gets pregnant and gives birth to their child alone in the hospital. The doctor warns her against another pregnancy; she barely survived this one. Back home, Colly cheats on her with another woman. No, he wasn't the love of her life. Maybe she'll simply accept the offer from Saft, a well-off but much older businessman. He would be a father to the children and provide them with financial security. She doesn't love him, but it does sound tempting not to have to handle everything alone. A person can't just sleep and work all day. But one day she wants to really party, so she goes out. In a bar, she meets Paul a second time. She falls in love and throws herself passionately into the relationship. But Paul is married with a child. Life isn't kind to Paula again. They separate, and her despair causes Paula to lose her attention for a moment. A tragic accident changes everything. Paul can no longer stand his marriage and chooses Paula, whom he can win back. And now, for both of them, great happiness could finally come true. When Paula becomes pregnant for the third time, she has to make a decision – and chooses hope.

EPSG:4326

The Legend of Paul and Paula

Schauspielhaus Bad Godesberg

FREMD tells the story of a child. He is born in France to Shoah survivors. The family is stateless, homeless. A life in the diaspora. In the 1960s, the family immigrates to Germany. Of all places, to the country of the murderers who wiped out almost the entire family of the parents. The child feels a stranger. "I live somewhere in the middle of nowhere." How can one build a life in this place? What do people dream of here, and how do they look to the future in a place when the past lies like a veil over everything and the present means exclusion, racism, and anti-Semitism? The family sticks together. Perhaps sometimes it even holds on too tightly. The child feels responsible for their parents their entire life, remaining a child even when they are long grown up. The trauma weighs heavily on the family, not letting go. "If I am afraid of the stranger, how afraid is the stranger of me. And fear, fear is my companion in life." But the child survives and tries to continue dreaming.

Foreign

Elisabeth is confident. Although she's currently unemployed, has no business license, and still has a fine to pay, what she can rely on is herself. Or rather, her body. She wants to sell it to the anatomical institute for scientific experiments after her death. In return, she hopes to receive 150 marks immediately. That would be enough money for her business license. And with that, she could start her own business and work again. And once she had a job, the world would be her oyster again! Unfortunately, Elisabeth seems to have been completely misinformed. The institute has no interest in acquiring her body. Times are tough. The lonely taxidermist still wants to help and lends her the money. She, in turn, uses this to pay off her previous conviction. Of course, he would never have given his hard-earned money to a criminal. He reports her for fraud, and Elisabeth is sentenced to prison. Once free again, she joins the long line of job seekers in front of the welfare office. Without success. By chance, she meets the police officer Alfons. The two fall in love, but Elisabeth keeps quiet about her run-in with the law. When this comes out, he abandons her to avoid jeopardizing his career. Elisabeth is alone again. Without prospects and worn down by everyday life, she has lost faith in a better society, her love for Alfons, and her hope that she will still find happiness.

Faith, love, hope

Theater Bonn Opera House

Every person is an abyss – no one knows this better than those who stand inexorably before it. Like the penniless soldier Woyzeck, who does everything humanly possible to provide for his girlfriend Marie and their child. He is his captain's henchman and barber and a doctor's guinea pig. At the mercy of his poverty, Woyzeck suffers a daily life dominated by ridicule, agitation, drill, contempt, and violence. His friend Andres suffers a similar fate, but at least he never gives up hope for a peaceful revolution from below. Marie hopes for a more independent life, but apart from providing full-time care for her child, she doesn't know how she can achieve this. Her neighbor Margret observes social conditions very closely. A rage is growing inside her that is slowly spreading to everyone else.

Riccardo Ferreira

Events

Past events

Apr 15 - May 25, 2025

What do we lack to be happy? · Theater Bonn

Apr 13 - May 3, 2025

The Legend of Paul and Paula · Theater Bonn

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