Über den Dingen - Above the things

"ÜBER DEN DINGEN"

by Martin Suter

When Reto comes home from work, no one is waiting for him. The woman of his heart has left him. As usual, he puts a frozen pizza in the oven and switches on the TV. But today - only flickering and static on the screen. And when he calls his friends, only the answering machine answers. In the absence of anyone to talk to, Reto talks to the things in his flat. ‘Nice baking!’ he says to the oven. ‘Iron it nicely!’ he asks the silent servant. And suddenly! The things answer him. The pizza is the first to speak and repeats everything after him. Can this be right? And then the sofa cushion, the oven glove and his Hugo Boss jacket, which, coming from Stuttgart, speaks Swabian, get involved. Obviously he's alone too much, Reto tries to make himself realise. Makes you feel a bit strange, doesn't it? Finally, the leather armchair adds its two cents. He pretends to be therapeutically educated because he has been seeing a psychiatrist for years. He diagnoses loneliness syndrome, as is often the case with newly separated people. The armchair joins forces with the sofa cushion to subject Reto to shock therapy ... Totally crazy!

Whether it is the protagonist's delusions or real events, everyone can make up their own mind. Bestselling author Martin Suter wrote his first play, ‘Über den Dingen’, in 2005. His look into the abysses of the human soul is particularly humorous and absurd here. How did he come up with this ludicrous idea? ‘When I'm alone, I talk to things,’ he once said. ‘And then I asked myself: what would happen if the things answered?’

DIRECTOR KAY NEUMANN

SET DESIGN MONIKA FRENZ

PUPPETRY LUKAS SCHNEIDER (GUEST)

LIGHTING NIKO BOCK

DRAMATURGY KATRIN AISSEN

WITH

PABLO GUANEME PINILLA (Reto)

JUDITH LILLY RAAB (Susi / Pizza / Flower Cushion / Pouf / Jug)

TOBIAS D. WEBER (Dr Gernheim / Button cushion / Hugo Boss suit / Armchair)

LUKAS SCHNEIDER (GUEST) (nurse / glove / neutral bag)

DURATION: approx. 1 hour 30 minutes, without break

https://www.theater-heilbronn.de/programm/komoedie/stueck-detail.php?SID=710