based on the short story by Anna Seghers
Early 20th century: A class of girls, at the end of the school year, are enjoying an outing on the Rhine with a boat trip, fresh sheet cake and coffee. Whispers of first crushes, heartfelt hugs between friends and a sense of curiosity about life flit between the meadows and the waves.
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Spandau
But suddenly their hair has turned grey; love and friendship turn to hatred and contempt, and friends become traitors and the betrayed, driven into exile or into concentration camps.
In her story, written in 1944 whilst in exile in Mexico, Anna Seghers describes how a political system burrows into the girls’ lives and tears them apart.
The production explores the existential chasms between friends in a time of social terror. What consequences for one’s own life are inherent in betrayal? How do people behave when evil begins to take a seat at their table?
