Germany in the 50s: the economy is booming, there is nearly full employment. To further accelerate the boom, the government concludes the so-called headhunting agreement for foreign workers, with countries that include Italy and Turkey. The still-young West Germany experiences a second Zero Hour; what follows is an era of immigration, which will deeply change the composition of society. Author and director Nuran David Calis has conducted a search for traces of this era in Cologne and the Ruhr Valley and condensed his impressions from meeting the former guest workers and their descendants into a play about three generations.
Silvio and Toni leave Naples in 1955 to work and earn money in Germany. Silvio goes to the mine in Essen and Toni to the foundry in Cologne. They don’t want to stay for long and they want to go back to Italy, to their girlfriends, every fortnight... In 1969, Ayse says goodbye to her great love Hassan on a hill near Istanbul, for she and her mother will follow her father to Germany. Ayse dreams about owning her own jewellery shop and being able to get Hassan to join her later. They will only meet again thirty years later on the hill. Both are over forty and have families… Essen Katernberg – today. Karim has grown up in Germany. He has studied law, but can’t find a job – who wants an Iranian to represent them in court? Karim is longing for a new beginning in Hamadan, the home of his family, where he has never been before… (Announcement Schauspiel Köln)
Nuran David Calis
Stunde Null - Vol. I-III
Ein Stück über Einwanderer
Ein Auftragswerk für eine gemeinsame Produktion des Schauspiel Köln und des Schauspiel Essen
3 D, 4 H, Verwandlungsdek
UA: 29.04.2008 · Halle Kalk des Schauspiel Köln in Koproduktion mit dem Schauspiel Essen · Directed by: Nuran David Calis