The truest True Crime

Media reports have already served up this true story as a sensational bestseller: the solving of a crime that had languished for almost ten years as a ‘cold case’ in a police filing cabinet. An unidentified assailant pulled a young woman off her bike while she was cycling home, openly raped her in the street and – despite the presence of armed witnesses – vanished almost without a trace. The one essential element missing from these reports: the perspective of the survivor herself. Now, her voice takes to the Münchner Kammerspiele stage and multiplies into a chorus. We have the privilege of watching her transform from victim to investigator of her own case as, locked in a constant battle with the indifference of the authorities, she finally brings a serial offender to justice. And, as she does so, she also subverts the usual ‘true crime’ narratives with humour, rage and a zest for life, all without in any way mitigating the pain. This chorus is accompanied by live music from Zooey Agro and Lena Geue, who bridge the gap between Italian pop, electro sounds and rap.

Writer Anne Jelena Schulte has decided to make her own case the subject of a dramatic text, thereby breaking the silence which invariably serves the perpetrators and the system that protects them. This theatrical evening for seven actors is simultaneously painful, humorous and masterfully choreographed as it searches for bonds of solidarity. Anna-Sophie Mahler, who was invited to the 2016 Theatertreffen festival in Berlin with her Kammerspiele production “Mittelreich”, approaches this true crime story with the tools of a distinctly musical directing style.

This production is part of the thematic focus on “Unlearning Patriarchy!”.

“Hey, guys.
You’re getting something wrong here.
What happened wasn’t sex.
It was an assault on my life.”
– from “The Truest True Crime”