A woman is wearing a fluffy lion costume. Her left hand is in her hair. Behind her stands a man with his stomach to her back. He is wearing a white collar with frills and a black cap.

Photo: Maurice Korbel

MK:

Als lebten wir in einem barmherzigen Land

By A. L. Kennedy

 Schauspielhaus
 World premiere
 Opening night: 26.1.2024
 2 hours
 With English surtitles
 Thu-Sat: 15-45€, Sun-Wed: 10-40€, under 30 years each seat category: 10€
 Schauspielhaus
 World premiere
 Opening night: 26.1.2024
 2 hours
 With English surtitles
 Thu-Sat: 15-45€, Sun-Wed: 10-40€, under 30 years each seat category: 10€

Should we show mercy to the merciless? — A primary school teacher and a killer caught between love, betrayal and murder

Two versions of reality clash in this gripping story, but hate does not have the last word. Anna is a primary school teacher who still wants to make the world a better place – just as she did 25 years ago when she protested alongside the clowns of the Unrule OrKestrA street theatre troupe against the cynical politics of the British government. At the time, she had no inkling that her then lover “Buster”, a voodoo figure in top hat and tails, was an informant who was betraying them all.

Anna’s reunion with her ex-lover takes place in a courtroom in late 2019 – shortly before the outbreak of the pandemic. She embarks on the hunt for her tormentor and places herself in extreme danger. How far does evil reach? And can Anna keep herself free from it?

In this play, two contrasting perspectives are adroitly intertwined: Anna’s diary (written on recycled paper during the pandemic) and the notes of the undercover cop-turned-killer “Buster” who justifies his cold-blooded murders as a way to rid the world of its worst villains. Two voices, two genders, two world views, two loving men around Anna, two deep crises and two fairy tales. A linguistically brilliant story about our deeply troubling times.

  • Assistent to the Director Claudia Kaunzner
  • Assistent Stage and Costume Design  Julia Bahn
  • Stage Manager Hanno Nehring
  • Promter Sandra Petermann
  • Stage Managing Intern Luise Marr
  • Equipment Intern Laetizia Konvalin
  • Art production management Zora Luhnau
  • Production management technology Carolin Husemann
  • Stage Master Marcel Homack
  • Stage Machinery Thomas Grill, Michael Preusser, Manuel Weber
  • Lighting Tobias Fisch, Tankred Friedrich, Parthasarathi Sampath Kumar, Falko Rosin
  • Sound Quirin Schacherl, Thomas Schlienger
  • Make-Up Brigitte Frank, Sylvia Janka
  • Costumes Friederike Diemer, Jessica Watermann
  • Props Stefan Leeb, Sabine Schutzbach
  • Carpentry Ellen Bosse, Josef Friesl, Stefan Klodt-Bussmann, Wolfgang Mechmann
  • Metalworkers Jürgen Goudenhooft, Friedrich Würzhuber
  • Decorations Anja Gebauer, Tobias Herzog, Maria Hörger
  • Scenic Painting Evi Eschenbach, Renée Nakad
  • Performance rights Rowohlt Theaterverlag
Trailer
Trailer
Wiebke Puls on the right, hunched over, looking fearfully into the camera. On the left, Edmund Telgenkämper in profile.

Read more about the production, about A. L. Kennedy’s novel “Alive in a Merciful Country” and about the Trautonium!

Press reviews

“To say they are a dream team is no exaggeration. What they deliver on the front stage of the Schauspielhaus is nothing less than brilliant.
An evening of pure acting bliss. Sad, funny, bitter, full of pleasure, wit and pain.

Abendzeitung • 28.1.24

“It’s like a small miracle. An evening is presented that could hardly be more complex, multi-layered and abstract - and yet the result is an unprecedented sensual theater event.”

Bayerische Staatszeitung • 2.2.24

“Sandra Strunz’s stage adaptation of A. L. Kennedy’s novel shows two things: What magic theater can unfold and how great Telgenkämper and his famous colleague Wiebke Puls act. (…) A light in which the hope of mercy glows. Long, fierce cheers.”

Münchner Merkur • 27.1.24