Drei Mal Leben

In the organizer's words:

Translated from the French by Eugen Helmlé

Recommended for ages 14 and up

"You're a real artist, Henri,
You create and destroy the world according to your whims."

What if ...? After three years, the unsuccessful astrophysicist Henri is about to publish his new scientific paper. He is hoping for a career boost from his colleague Hubert. That's why Henri and his wife Sonja have invited Hubert and his partner Ines to their home for dinner. However, due to a misunderstanding, the couple arrive at Sonja and Henri's door a day early: nothing is prepared, there is a lack of food and Henri and Sonja's child simply won't go to sleep. Then Hubert tells Henri that another colleague is also planning a publication on his research topic. Was Henri's three years of work all for nothing? Catastrophic conditions for a dinner that turns into a disaster for everyone involved.

French playwright Yasmina Reza tells the story of an evening's failure three times over. The smallest nuances and coincidences create unpredictable developments and constellations of characters. Simple details are enough to shift moods, so that new facets constantly emerge in the four characters. While the inner state of the individual characters becomes ever more clearly recognizable, interpersonal communication is consistently at odds with one another. Desperate attempts at intellectual exchange lead straight back to the banality of social reality.

After "Art", the Mainfranken Theater is once again presenting contemporary drama by the successful French author Yasmina Reza with "Three Times Life". In her social comedy, Reza describes the fragility of individual existences under the veil of supposedly civilized manners in a pointed and linguistically sensitive manner, which appear more absurd each time.