David Lindemann

Getränk Hoffnung
2 D, 3 H
UA: 25.03.2012 · Burgtheater Wien (Vestibül) · Directed by: Michael Schachermaier
What does man long for in times of crisis? Christina Merkel, bank employee, has internalized the answer: he longs not for security, but for trust. After the crisis, customers are no longer dealt with in the bank, but rather on the bench in the park. And: they don’t talk about money anymore. The central terms associated with the topic of financial services are thoroughly thought through during customer conversations and, if necessary, are replaced by alternatives. In the place of security there should now be trust; in the place of integration, the laws of unconditional hospitality now apply. Mr Bond has a hard time at first with this confident leap of faith. But the hours pass by, they drink a little, chat, whisper, flirt a bit. And when Mr. Bond finally looks at his watch, in shock, the bank has long since looked after his children and his wife. So Mr. Bond spends a long night with the bankers - alcohol and dancing and strong emotions lessen his skepticism: the bank has won his trust. And the bank also trusts him, precisely because he is ultimately exposed as a spy of the Stiftung Warentest, a product testing company.

"If you were a safe bank, Mr. Bond, our trust in you wouldn’t be any sort of accomplishment, and certainly not a risky one. But you are anything but a safe bank, so you are our customer. Because we sell a top product. Trust at its MAX! This is our new main business."

David Lindemann's getränk Hoffnung is a sharp-witted comedy about the whimsical excesses of the financial crisis and the current political abysses, as well as a classroom for financial service providers and their customers. As in the play Koala Lumpur, he shows us the extent of the whole in a small cross-section. Cynical, highly amusing and selective, for the optimists among the theater goers, it even has a happy ending.