Tag und Nacht

The new play by cult author Roland Schimmelpfennig is constructed with almost mathematical precision around the numbers 2 and 4: with two brothers, two women and two couples. One couple lives in the country, the other in the city. The brothers are estranged and haven’t seen each other for years. One is an actor. His name is Erik. 1000 performances of “Puss in Boots” have made him a local celebrity and an alcoholic. The other, Martin, writes. For years he has been working on a script of “The Country Mouse and the Town Mouse”, a children’s story and political manifesto rolled into one. But he can hardly get past the first page. Their partners, Lisa and Astrid, both wish they could leave their lives behind with men who are worn out by success and failure. Astrid longs for the city. Lisa has better artistic ideas than Erik and some sympathy for Martin, his brother in the country, and his unfinished script. What happens when the country couple suddenly comes to town? Or the city dwellers rock up in the country with a whole car full of wine, beer and spirits? And when it slowly emerges that it was politics that caused such a deep rift between the two brothers? Roland Schimmelpfennig has written an ingenious play that is wonderfully absurd and painfully contemporary, where all the maths ultimately ends up in a huge bunfight.