Oleanna

In the organizer's words:

A power play
by David Mamet

"Oleanna", the title of the play by successful American playwright David Mamet ("When the Postman Rings Twice", "The Untouchables") is actually a song that describes a utopia: a country where there is no more oppression, where people can move freely.

Mamet outlines how difficult it is to get there in his play of the same name. A seemingly casual laying on of hands, meant as a gesture of reassurance by Professor John towards his student Carol, suddenly turns into a scandal. Was it perhaps a sexual assault after all? Was there more to the professor than just sympathy? And what does Carol want? Why is she launching this vendetta that could cost John his career? Was it her idea or that of her group of activists? Can there be a mutually satisfactory solution or is that out of the question?

Mamet describes the hopeless situations people can find themselves in when they no longer allow any other world view than their own, when their ability to communicate is almost extinguished and how this also makes interactions between the sexes increasingly toxic, because everything seems to be just a question of power.

With this highly topical subject, Mamet succeeds in creating an exciting thriller, comparable to Daniel Kehlmann's "Christmas Eve", the outcome of which is open until the end, with two protagonists at eye level who give each other nothing.

At the London premiere, the critics went into raptures: "Rarely has theater been so captivating and contemporary," wrote the Sunday Times, for example, about Mamet's play.

Former Thalia and later Burgtheater star Sven-Eric Bechtolf, who is now on stage with us for the second time after "Endspiel", and the young Berlin actress Johanna Asch play the student Carol at the St. Pauli Theater.

Price information:

St. Pauli Theater ticket hotline: (040) 4711 0 666, st-pauli-theater.de and at all known advance booking offices