Kein Plan (Kafkas Handy) (UA)

Four siblings in the back seat of a car, on their way through an increasingly diffuse reality: Is it a family outing? A court hearing? An odyssey that never reaches its destination? Taking Franz Kafka's labyrinthine literary worlds as a starting point, Kathrin Röggla undertakes her very own land survey in her new play, written especially for the Theater an der Ruhr: in a dark road movie, she leads us through the spaces, processes and structures of circles that have turned their backs on liberal democracy and can no longer be reached.

In their search for their parents, the four children encounter an increasingly uncomfortable environment and, in their sibling dynamics, sometimes develop a comedy that makes you laugh out loud. Ultimately, they not only come into ever closer contact with the alleged realities of abstruse conspiracy narratives, but also with the concrete threat that they unfold. In his production, Philipp Preuss explores an unsettlingly fine line between child's play and radical worlds of thought that urge realisation.

Martina Jacobi, Die deutsche Bühne:

“This disoriented road trip is wonderfully suited as an abstract image to dissolve a sense of space and time. [...] The multi-faceted play by Fabio Menendez, Lea Reihl, Marie Schulte-Werning and Joshua Zilinske pulls you along well.”

Stefan Keim, WDR:

“It is a deeply political play - magnificently and finely nuanced - precise text direction - impressive stage world [...].”

Stefan Keim, Deutschlandfunk Kultur:

“You have to constantly decipher and think along - but that's exactly what made this evening great fun.”

Stefan Keim, Theater der Zeit:

“Kathrin Röggla has a strongly bound, rhythmic, fine language that constantly changes tonality. Fabio Menéndez, Marie Schulte-Werning, Joshua Zilinske and Lea Reihl play with great attention and permeability. You can sense how carefully they worked with director Philipp Preuss on the complex text. While Kornelius Heidebrecht has composed pulsating, subcutaneously stimulating music. “Kein Plan (Kafkas Handy)” is a very productive political disturbance, a play with a lot of potential for discussion.

Andrea Müller, WAZ:

“The uneasy feeling that has taken root in many of us in the face of political events and social developments quickly spreads during the world premiere of “Kein Plan (Kafkas Handy)” by Kathrin Röggla at the Theater an der Ruhr. This is due to a text whose strong dialogues immediately set off a mental movie. But also thanks to the virtuoso acting [...] and a director [...] who uses multimedia to get to the heart of the matter and create a variety of moods. The directing team translates the text into gripping images: conspiracy theories are born behind stuffy windows, a wind turbine refers to the denial of climate change. Strong: an angry citizen becomes a snarling dog in the children's perception. Haunting: The children suddenly wear costumes bearing symbols of the right-wing scene. The children's play becomes a symbol of hatred and violence.”