Directed by Wolf E. Rahlfs
Stage and costumes: Tommi Brem
Music: Paolo Greco
WHO PREFERS SAFETY OVER FREEDOM DESERVES TO BE A SLAVE! (Aristoteles)
Badische Landesbühne Premiere: 05. April 2012
“Wolf E. Rahlfs brought a furious version of “Hauptsache Arbeit!” to Bruchsal. (…) The author (Sibylle Berg) creates a panopticon of humiliation and perfidy (…), a super-capitalistic enhanced up and down of grand delusions, bleak dreams and consumerist demands. This roller-coaster ride has been staged terrificly by director Wolf E. Rahlfs. Like a DJ smoothly spinning records, he pushes the atmosphere to spring-break level, just to throw the audience into moments of emotional epiphanies a moment later. Which are extremely intense scenes. (…) The whole cast plays with an incredible energy (…) Passionate applause for a production that has but one down side: It’s not being played very often.”
– BNN (Badische Neueste Nachrichten)
“Work is not a bed of roses. (…) What’s the limit of crude- and rudeness for a satire? The question begs to be asked in this play. Author Sibylle Berg seems to be rather ruthless about it and develops an extreme “game” (…) It is a very controversial piece. (…) Opinions may differ regarding the play itself, but where the actors are concerned, one can only say: Cream of the crop.”
– Rhein-Neckar-Zeitung
“Selection through intercourse and electro shocks (…) the play “Hauptsache Arbeit” convinced the audience in a rather exaggerated and ruthless manner (…) The social satire by Sibylle Berg showed how dependend employees are on their jobs in our modern meritocracy. (…) In the end, they all swallowed the pill of forgetting, which is to say they commited suicide. They lie on the floor, half naked and unconscious. Die Badische Landesbühne presented extraordinary acting and swift scene changes. A terrific performance with emotional depth, that the audience shall not soon forget.”
– Münchner Merkur
“Strong meat, hard to swallow for any audience. (…) The actors received passionate applause for the presentation of a play that made people think and sent the audience home with dark thoughts.”
– Fränkische Nachrichten
Photos (c) Peter Empl
Cast:
Boss: Matthias Hinz
Motivation-rat: Alice Katharina Schmidt
The employees of an insurance company:
Cornelia Heilmann, Evelyn Nagel, Andrea Nistor, Sandra Pohl;
Martin Brunnemann, Markus Hennes, Stefan Holm, Hannes Höchsmann.
