the yellow wallpaper

A young woman experiences states of dejection and exhaustion after the birth of her child. She is also unable to care for the newborn. Her husband, who is a doctor, certifies her as suffering from »nervous depression« and »hysteria« and takes her to a secluded country estate where she is to find rest far from activity, society, and diversion. The room where she now spends most of her time has a torn yellow wallpaper. Its color, smell, and tangled texture engage, frighten, and fascinate the young woman in equal measure. Soon, locked behind the pattern, she recognizes a woman trying to fight her way out of captivity. She decides to help her.

Charlotte Perkins Gilman's autobiographically influenced story THE YELLOW WALLPAPER was published in 1892 - long before the clinical picture of »postnatal depression« even became a concept. The US-American author and women's rights activist impressively describes the emotional life of her protagonist and at the same time reveals the hopelessness and disenfranchisement she experiences because she deviates from the female role model of the happy and selflessly loving mother. Director Sarah Larisch brings Gilman's narrative to the stage of Depot 2 in the Werkstücke series, creating an intimate arrangement in which the audience enters the room with the yellow wallpaper together with the woman.