Stefan Schütz

Nan lays himself down to die. But you have to wait for Death. Net, whom he shares the bed with – it belongs to Nan in the night, Net in the day – is getting impatient. He has already had to go without sleep for too many days. But Death can’t be drawn in through stories of the death of others, even if they were Roman emperors. And when he does finally come, he confronts Net. Nan – “There is only one person in this room who is suffering, ruined and broken, me!” – chases the snickering Death – for a little while. He wants to keep vegetating passively until his time comes.
Life requires action and the landlord requires money. Net goes in search of capital to exhibit Nan like the famous hunger artist. In the meantime, Nan provokes the cleaning lady Sirrah to indignation with questions about heaven and hell. Having stepped out of the game of “life and death”, he is also happy to provide a cover for patricide. But Death, once again in a good mood and feeling playful, works strictly according to plan: the landlord is not on his list.
Net, on the other hand, dies, and Nan, active in the end, follows him “into the big tent” – finally, nothingness.

Stefan Schütz’s Net & Nan are not a little reminiscent of characters from the world of Beckett. For him, life and death are equally absurd. Infused with ironically touched up literary quotes, defeatism gets the upper hand: “Not everything in life is meaningless, but all life is meaningless.” Only: If the elimination of life – and with it, death – can be conceived with humour, as it is here, then it is almost worth surviving. Because who would want to miss out on the big game?