Carl von Sternheim, Reto Finger

Aus dem bürgerlichen Heldenleben I -
Die Hose
Trilogie von Carl Sternheim in einer Bearbeitung von Reto Finger
Auftragsarbeit für das Schauspielhaus Bochum
2 D, 3 H
UA: 07.06.2013 · Schauspielhaus Bochum · Directed by: Anselm Weber
Everything starts with the loss of a pair of pants. It throws the life of civil servant family Maske into disarray. Son Christian, a product of the commotion about the lost trousers, manages (years later) the economic climb to become a major shareholder and boss of a mining company. Calculating and egotistical, he pushes away everything in his way and doesn’t even stop at his own family. He accuses his mother of being the illegitimate child of a French nobleman to be able to climb society’s ladder even further. At last, as an old man, he wants to leave the company to his daughter. But when she doesn’t conduct war business the way he wants it, the sickly old man interferes again. His triumph over his own children is short-lived and has deadly consequences.

Carl Sternheim’s trilogy Die Hose – Der Snob – 1913 is a sharp-tongued satire about bourgeois family configurations and the reckless pursuit of profit. Intendant Anselm Weber staged the cycle for the Schauspielhaus Bochum in a new adaptation by Reto Finger.