Matthias Beltz

KASPER Do you know why the American declaration of independence is called declaration of independence? Because it declares that everyone is responsible for himself, independently from how everyone else is doing.
The setting is a grubby changing room in the “cellar of a big gym in a medium-sized, western German city”, dominated by a sign saying: “Not being scared is forbidden”. On the margins of a fundraising gala for the homeless, a comedian and a literary critic are arguing about art and non-art, the relationship between comedy and theatre, cynicism and pathos, about “U” and “E”.

EIGENBROD We were lied to, shamefully lied to.
We were deceived in the most backstabbing way.
They promised us a catastrophe, cruelly
They made us tremble with fear of death,
They predicted downfall and torture and the end-
And now the shame: Nothing happened.
The whole ruckus was as much for nothing as this jittery century,
In vain up to the brittle bones.
They showed us the torture instruments, grins-.
And then put it all back into the stock.
The complete shock of the self
Was only a bubbling of pasta in an instant soup.
That’s the true end: the train of time isn’t leaving at all.
The downfall of the West has been rescheduled for an undetermined amount of time.