Judith Kuckart

Last Minute, Fräulein Dagny
Stück in 5 Bildern
6 D, 1 H, Verwandlungsdek
UA: April 1995 · Theater Skoronel in Zusammenarbeit mit dem Landestheater Tübingen an den Freien Kammerspielen Magdeburg · Directed by: Judith Kuckart und Jörg Aufenanger
Dagny Jung was the daughter of the communist writer Franz Jung. Even before the birth of his daughter, in 1916, Jung had left his wife Margot.
As a young woman Dagny committed two suicide attempts. She was locked into the closed ward of a Viennese hospital, declared to be lazy and hereditarily damaged. She died there in March 1945, as the Russians were already standing before the city. The official cause of death was a pulmonary infection.

The play begins a few minutes before Dagny's death. Together with her guardian angel, Dagny writes down her last will and testament. Then she tells the angel to tell her the story of her own life, and exchanges roles with him. The guardian angel recounts Dagny's life anew. The setting is a news office under the earth, where she has worked as a stenographer. Together with her colleagues, who also play the mother, father, relatives, and mistresses of her father, she conjures up memories and images that have settled down in Dagny's subconscious mind, revealing her feelings and dreams. Dagny, a mute spectator, constantly calls attention to the minutes counting down until her death.
Another 57 seconds, she cries at the end, and asks her father once again, "Father, why were you as miserly with your love for me as the night is with the light?"