Der Trafikant

In the organizer's words:

Play based on the novel of the same name by Robert Seethaler

Austria 1937: Alois Preininger, the richest man in the Salzkammergut, drowns in the lake. Among the many sniffling "widows" at his grave is the tender, tough Margarete Huchel. She now has to reorganize her life and sends her son Franz to Vienna. He is to make his fortune as an apprentice in a tobacconist's - a tobacco and newspaper store. Between reading newspapers and smoking cigarettes, Franz becomes fascinated by Sigmund Freud, a regular customer. When he falls hopelessly in love with the vaudeville dancer Anezka with youthful exuberance, Franz seeks advice from the old professor. But even the world-famous psychoanalyst finds the female sex an eternal mystery... However, Franz's encounter with the upright tobacconist Trsnjek, who shows him how important it is to stand up for humanity - even in the face of the increasingly open face of fascism, which eventually overruns Austria.
"A book about friendship in difficult times and about how to remain human even when the scum rules", wrote the WDR about Robert Seethaler's successful novel - now to be experienced on stage at the Stadttheater.
"One has blood on his hands, and the others stand there and say nothing. It's always like that."