Robert Woelfl

There’s no harmless beginning: tragedy doesn’t develop anymore – it is present without being sensed as such by its victims. Even in the beginning, the characters who are couples provoke each other with tooth and nail – but they are blunt and slow. Provocation is crude, loud and sharp – he who provokes has a brief moment of pleasure, he who is provoked lets everything bounce off, contradicts indifferently, without resistance – an escalation is unthinkable.

Squabbling – back and forth – along the waterside promenade. Roland is obstructive: before pouring gasoline over himself and lighting himself on fire, he forces Waltraud and Walter to stick their faces in a rotten dog corpse, slays Sabine and throws the angler (who still got the opportunity to get off on top of her corpse) into the deep, stinking river.
All of this happens without excitement, as in passing – everyone is involved, but no one takes part. The dirt can be brushed off, the characters don’t feel disgust anymore, not towards each other and not towards themselves. And so, the “glorious afternoon” ends while eating a trout, filled with parsley and dill.
“I’ll slay you one day”
“I think I’ve never given you a reason for that”
Weariness: they are a burden for each other and themselves and can’t move even a centimetre. They are always talking, but no word coming from the enlarged mouths is of use.