Herbert Achternbusch

Der Stiefel und sein Socken
1 D, 1 H, 1 Dek
UA: 23.12.1993 · Münchner Kammerspiele · Directed by: Herbert Achternbusch
“Finally in Munich I can have anyone, but I’m not a pleasant guest. Whenever I took a nail from the tool cupboard I asked myself how they could still stand me. After I had painted the final paintings, I went. When my aunt Ella was dying, I painted, and when one of my daughters tried to commit suicide, I painted. And now that I am trying to lose Susn, I am painting: monkeys are climbing on my table. With every painting that is being picked up, the house loses a piece of your soul, Susn writes with her round handwriting. The last time she was here, I whispered into her face excitedly: ‘Again, neither my heart nor my head was torn’. But when you’re writing, of course it’s so much quieter than whispering. You’re discreetly passing a message to someone, which is why literature can only be communication between initiates. On the phone, Susn said this was a play about the two of us, and again this cheap soullessness. I wrote it in five consecutive days, and as always, I can’t imagine ever writing a play again. The rift couldn’t be more balanced: Breitenbach, the basic situation isn’t fixable, exactly like Arizona. But the blooming of the orchid shrub is inexplicable to me. Give back one of my last pictures, it’s called ‘As they come’.” (Herbert Achternbusch)
Translated into: English, French, Russian, Spanish