Gerhard Meister

The piece intertwines four stories, all of which are told in monologues and theatrical scenes. There is the woman who returns to her country twenty years after a nuclear accident; and except for the cows on the pasture, nothing is as it was before. There is also the landlady from Rössli—development workers explain to her how to cook low-radiation food, as if any one of her customers was interested in radiation. In a helicopter, a young couple flies over the destroyed land to go skiing in the Alps, but on the return flight the helicopter needs to land. And there is the man in his apartment who refuses to join into the disaster hysteria.

MAN IN THE APARTMENT: "Maximum Credible Accident? You want to make the Maximum Credible Accident? And when do you want to do it? This week is very difficult. Everything is booked out. Next week, same thing. So there’s just Wednesday afternoon from three to half past four, if that works for you. How long does such a Maximum Credible Accident take? Aha, I understand, then it won’t work on Wednesday, of course. Too bad."

"Enjoy a steam bath in the cooling tower," a nuclear power plant advertises for a visit of the plant. As I stand in the boundless half-dark of forty degree steam, I think, admittedly, such a visit is an experience. More interesting, however, is to imagine what happens when such a thing explodes.” (Gerhard Meister)