Der Wal (DSE) - The Whale

After a personal tragedy, Charlie finds himself ‘stranded’ on a couch in northern Idaho. His only contact is his nurse Liz, Elder Thomas, a Mormon, and, more recently, his ex-wife and teenage daughter Ellie.

The fact that this highly acclaimed, painfully touching, disturbing and humorous play continues to be the subject of much discussion long after the performance is over is not due to Charlie's monstrous obesity, but to playwright Samuel D. Hunter's unusual view of his characters and his talent for creating complex characters on multiple emotional levels who linger in the memory. Like pieces of a puzzle, he connects Charlie's current state with the broken relationships with people from his past who have fatefully influenced his life in scenes of great intensity.


Hunter's dialogues, full of tender and angry, serious and humorous undertones, are particularly effective in the scenes between father and daughter. Charlie wants to prevent Ellie from falling into an existential downward spiral through loss, contempt and frustration, and thus becoming as trapped in her emotional world as he is in his body.


A production by EURO-STUDIO Landgraf