Die Welt im Rücken

• by Thomas Melle
• In a stage adaptation by Lucia Bihler and Gwendolyne Melchinger

Schauspiel Stuttgart

Premiere: September 27, 2025

A writing “I” leads a life of extremes—at times bursting with energy to the point of excess, at others trapped in agonizing emptiness. The cause is bipolar disorder, in which manic and depressive phases alternate, catapulting the self out of society’s orderly routines. Through writing, the restless self attempts to make sense of what happens between sex with Madonna and the desire to be annihilated with him. In *Die Welt im Rücken*, Thomas Melle offers, through virtuoso, sensual linguistic imagery, a vivid insight into an illness from which he himself suffers. Lucia Bihler conceives her novel adaptation as a visually and emotionally captivating Gesamtkunstwerk, in which music, lighting, stage design, and choreography intertwine, and emotions and actions are abstracted and translated into expressive physicality. With her sensational interplay of physical exertion and emotional vulnerability, Paulina Alpen stands at the center of the action, flanked by a group of doppelgängers serving as a physical chorus. Together, they create powerful images that burn themselves into the memory.

Jury Statement

“The entire stage here transforms into a psycho-physical space: from Paula Wellmann’s breathing curtains, at times illuminated in a blush-pink hue, to the urgent sounds of Sixtus Preiss, everything contributes to making Thomas Melle’s painful yet humorous text about his bipolar disorder visible and tangible. At the center of this Gesamtkunstwerk: the magnificent Paulina Alpen. In Victoria Behr’s red body armor—and sometimes in defiance of it—she portrays the heaviness of depression as well as the thunderous storm of neurons in mania. And none of it is overdone. Even losing her mind is a subtle affair with her. Six Alpen lookalikes are the “hermaphrodite agents” mentioned by Melle: protrusions like echoes of one’s own self, yet they also mirror mainstream society’s reactions to inappropriate behavior. The evening possesses the pop-inspired aesthetic familiar from Lucia Bihler, yet it is never sensationalistic; rather, it is deeply human and takes the audience on an emotional roller coaster.”

Sabine Leucht for the Theatertreffen Jury

Artistic Team

• Lucia Bihler – Direction
• Paula Wellmann – Set Design
• Victoria Behr – Costumes
• Sixtus Preiss – Music
• Björn Leese – Choreography
• Mats Süthoff – Outside Eye
• Felix Dreyer – Lighting
• Gwendolyne Melchinger – Dramaturgy

Cast

• Paulina Alpen – Thomas Melle
• Tim Bülow – Doppelgänger
• Pauline Großmann – Doppelgänger
• Felix Jordan – Doppelgänger
• Mina Pecik – Doppelgänger
• Karl Leven Schroeder – Doppelgänger
• Silvia Schwinger – Doppelgänger

WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES