Hans-Peter Krüger

Die Aufschreiberin
Schauspiel in 3 Akten
1 D, 1 H, 1 Stimme, 1 Dek
UA: 08.02.1998 · Badisches Staatstheater, Karlsruhe, in Koproduktion mit dem Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie · Directed by: Katharina Rupp
What a man! His visions were brilliant, his mind sharp as a razor blade. He was a poetic genius, a hero of women, an enemy of the powerful, a friend of the exploited. His name: Bertold Brecht, a pillar of humanity. And yet there is also the Brecht of whom a former confidant said: "His ultimate goal was to help people, but in his actions he despised them." Above all, the women he loved felt this side of his genius. One of these woman, someone who was magically attracted to him and went through hell for him, was named Ruth Berlau. Her journey with Brecht ended in in the psychiatry ward. Nevertheless, she loved him until his death. What sort of a woman is this?

The actor and director Viktor has written a play about Bert Brecht and his lover Ruth Berlau. One day the actress Eva appears in his theater, and she wants to play the role of Ruth. After getting over his initial suspicion, Viktor is fascinated by Eva and engages her in his troupe. In the course of the rehearsals, Viktor falls in love with his new partner. At the same time, she becomes ever more puzzling to him. In a strange way, she seems to be fleeing into the dream world of the theater. What is the secret behind her madness? Why does she identify so much with Ruth, the character she plays? Together they stage the life stations of Brecht and Berlau: the time of their first love in Danish exile, the fear of the Nazis in Finland, the journey to Stalinist Moscow, the arrival in the USSR, and finally the moment of Ruth’s collapse. The scenes on the stage reflect the private conflicts of the two actors, and their relationship is electrified by the biographies of their roles. Theater and reality are mixed: Viktor becomes visibly more aggressive, Eva more unstable. He finds traces of her secret, and on the evening of the premiere, there is a scandal on the open stage.