Heinrich Mann

Das gastliche Haus
Komödie in 3 Akten
3 D, 5 H, 1 Dek
In Heinrich Mann's Schauspielerin, the search for "true life" fails entirely - and fails painfully. shows the other side of the coin. All the characters of the comedy have resigned themselves to the fact that the rapidly changing circumstances require drastic adaptation.

But still, the great old family epics still influence . Revenge, dignity, honor and prestige: great concepts of an older age, but here they have lost their power almost entirely. Even smaller claims are turning into worthless ones: in this new time, pride of place is only allowed if your bank account is full. It is true that the fight for tradition and roots still persists, but complaints about their loss now seem small and petty. Ideals are quickly shelved when it becomes necessary to maintain a certain status quo.

Heinrich Mann delivers a snappy satire about a society that makes do with the new arrangement. Nouveau-riche proletarians in roles that do not fit them meet up with debt-ridden investors and petty aristocracy. The representatives of the higher classes understand how to instrumentalize the rising classes for their own purposes. They are superior to their former deliverers even at the level of language, since they understand linguistic masking. They cannot get past them anymore. And so the arrangement ultimately leads to a marriage that is only a means to an end, and they will try to make the best of it. "That's the way it is": the characters are disillusioned, but still a long way away from giving into depression.