Manfred Schild

A comedy in humourless times
The furniture store in Kleinwetzelsrhode has done it. Thanks to judicious company policy, it has been bought by the global corporation Globl Mogl. From now on, although the deck chair ‘spring bloom’ will still be sold as usual by Theodor Lottereck, the grandson of the inventor of this chair, and Mrs Tunzenbach, the woman who can do everything, the imperial GloblMoglEminence is watching over its sale's success through the eyes of its analysts. And what are the terrible results? “THE DEPARTMENT FOR DECK CHAIRS IS FAILING!!” Immediately, Bruno, the hatchet man, is sent to the crisis zone to make people sit again. With him, success-oriented capitalism finds its way into the leisurely family business. The analysts come up with a DECK CHAIR MARATHON SITTING COMPETITION. Profit forecast: one million Euros. But the citizens of Kleinwetzelsrhode are critical, and apart from Oskar, no one wants to take part in the competition. But in order for the world to pay attention, Bruno offers himself up as a sitting opponent. Up on the roof of the furniture store, the ambition of one sits next to the patience of the other, and their nerves are at breaking point. The public lives and suffers with them, and the ‘Spring Bloom’ deck chair’s sales skyrocket. Sitting is back in. But the happy ending fails to materialise. The sitters’ waiting is not rewarded, the winner is and remains someone else. It is an ending of smoke and mirrors.
Sitzfleisch, a twisted parody of the excesses of a profit-motivated world, offers a comical and pointed picture of a society in which you really can’t win anything by sitting it out.