“Never again is now”.
Anyone who has ever confronted German history knows well the meaning of this phrase. Yet, now more than ever, the danger of 1933 is getting closer and closer since the AfD – a German party with a far-right and racist orientation – has gained respectability and popularity nationwide, up to a 16-22 per cent consensus. At a conference held in Potsdam in November 2023, far-right representatives together with the AfD presented their master plan of so-called “Remigration.” If one tries to place the status quo of this national environment within the German societal context, it gives one shivers. 29 per cent of the population has a so-called “migration background,” including migrant workers, the protagonists of this play.
The stage adaptation of Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s Fear Eats the Soul serves as the starting point of the staging. The German melodrama, which takes place in Munich, is about a liaison that caused a scandal in 1970s Germany, and which even today, 50 years later, could play out very similarly. She: over 60, a widow of German descent. He: 20 years younger, Moroccan and speaks stunted German. Emmi and Ali. Even before marriage, the relationship is met with great resentment from their children, colleagues, shop assistants and neighbours: anger, hatred, and insults. The couple faces many challenges that Germans without a migration background are unfamiliar with.
The text has been adapted from the original version by adding some illusory interruptions and references to today’s situation.
Rainer Werner Fassbinder (1945-1982) was a German film director, actor and playwright. Regarded as one of the most important protagonists and catalysts of the New German cinema, he is the representative of “anti-theatre”, which was intended as a continuous provocation for the audience. He produced more than 40 films, all eclectic and creative, bringing together a multiplicity of different genres and often mixing elements of Hollywood melodrama with avant-garde techniques and social criticism. His films explored, as he put it, “the exploitability of feelings”. His work was deeply rooted in postwar German culture: the aftermath of National Socialism, the German economic miracle, and the terror of the Red Army Faction. He was not a filmmaker known for wide-open fields and horizons, nor his pathetic approach to landscapes or nature. His speciality was cramped spaces, oppressive furnishings, mirrors and glancing shots: this is where he sought the poetic places of his chamber theatre, where he helped repressed feelings find the truth of their unconfessed desires through false gestures (and vice versa). Fassbinder was, in both his historical and current works, a relentless chronicler of human loss and an empathiser of suffering.
Director
Dr. Monika Dobrowlańska (theatre and opera director, author, university lecturer in theatre, winner of the Tournesol prize at the 2017 Festival d’Avignon in the Beyond Borders category) considers herself a European director and successfully combines different theatrical traditions in her productions. Since 2002, she has lived and worked in Berlin as an independent director and collaborates with, among others, the Maxim Gorki Theater, the Hebbel Theater and the Akademie der Künste. In 2012 she founded the intercultural art collective multicultural city. The focus of her work is on intercultural productions that deal with issues of identity and personal and political freedom. Marginalised groups are of great interest to the director.
Videography
The artist Yukihiro Ikutani, born in 1979 in Japan, graduated from the Tokyo University of Fine Arts and then from the Potsdam-Babelsberg Film University in Scenography. He has extensive experience as a director, designer and art director in the film industry. More detailed information on the individual projects he is involved in can be found at the following link: https://elektrokagura.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/YukihiroIkutani_CV.pdf.
multicultural city
One of the focal points of the Berlin-based theatre group multicultural city e.V. is the development of experimental theatrical forms resulting from the encounter of different cultures. Artists from all over the world are offered the opportunity to work together. The promotion of understanding, tolerance and mutual respect through the ongoing confrontation of prejudices and stereotypes is fundamental and is also explored and developed in the form of experimental theatre forms. Theatre productions have been presented at numerous European theatre festivals. Since 2012, many collaborations have taken place in different European countries. Besides theatre productions, multicultural city is also committed to the social situation of theatre artists, and especially to the rehabilitation of those with a migration background behind them.
An important decision of the director was to stage the play by having actresses who are migrant workers themselves and come from various countries such as Chile, Spain, Morocco, the United States, Austria, etc., finding through them a way to talk about the theme of labour migration in the 1970s. The focal point was the issue of how society has changed since then. In particular, how migrants feel within German society, those who came to Germany in the 1970s and are now witnessing the rapid rise of the AfD is examined. In this way, current social issues are also connected to historical experiences:
“Fassbinder wrote this play in 1974, and since then the social acceptance of Muslim men, who in their countries of origin have not been able to enjoy higher education, may not have improved, but rather worsened. Since 2001, growing Islamophobia has been observed not only in Germany but also in other European countries, and Muslim men seem to be victims of it more than women. An observation that is also confirmed by several studies.
In this context, the selection of guests on talk shows addressing the issue of the “re-migration scandal” brought on by the AfD is also interesting. It strikes me that only young people with a migration background behind them, but who were born in Germany and speak perfect German are invited. Why are former foreign workers not also invited as guests? Perhaps is the generation of foreign workers, with their often imperfect German, still unacceptable in TV living rooms? Yet they have contributed significantly to Germany’s prosperity. How do these people feel when they hear about “repatriation plans” after they have devoted their lives to Germany for 30, 40 years, or perhaps even longer?
However, media coverage plays an important role in the social perception of migrants: one-sided coverage that focuses only on extremists, terrorism and criminal activities can lead to the development of prejudice and mistrust and affect general acceptance. I would like journalists to be more aware of their role in influencing public opinion.
Another question that concerns me is whether and to what extent the perception of the first foreign workers, who arrived in the RFG in the mid-1950s, was still influenced by the fact that forced labourers had left the country only 10 years earlier.
The bond between the two is ignored in the public debate regarding the integration of foreign workers. As someone with a migration background, however, this memory is indelible, especially since several members of my family, including my youngest aunt, were forced to work as early as age 11.
It is important to emphasize that political and economic factors are not the only determinants, but that individual attitudes and cultural norms also carry great weight. However, political and economic conditions and representation within the media can have a negative influence on the social acceptance of migrants.
Right-wing populism and racism have unfortunately become a problem throughout Europe. Therefore, I am excited about the European exchange within the TRANET project, and I hope that together we will be able to develop ideas capable of putting an end to these problems.” (Monika Dobrowlańska)
Monika Dobrowlańska’s show features minimalist sets and props. Live projections by Japanese artist Yukihiro Ikutani, with whom the director has collaborated for several years, support this aesthetic.
Time: TBD
On stage: 27 February 2025
Production: multicultural city e.V., Berlin
Director: Monika Dobrowlańska
Full cast: Helmuth Höger, Elena Louro, Alex Lee, Julia Vandehof, Maik Dehnelt, Rim Mekkaoui, Berfin Akkuzu, Yavuz Akkuzu, Mika Bücking
27 Feb 2025: Fear Eats the Soul
This performance will be broadcasted to Milan and Avignon, debate will follow.
28 Feb 2025: Fear Eats the Soul
1 Mar 2025: Fear Eats the Soul
2 Mar 2025: Fear Eats the Soul
3 Mar 2025: Pirandello’s Il gioco delle parti (Live from Milan with German Subtitles, debate will follow)
6 Mar 2025: Marivaux’s Slave Island, Live from Avignon with German Subtitles, debate will follow)
by Deverust Studio