Doppeltreppe zum Wald

In *Doppeltreppe zum Wald*, author Lamin Leroy Gibba creates a safe space as a kaleidoscope in which personal memories and collective traumas surge impetuously to the surface.

Somewhere between everyday conversation and a horror story, humour and the abyss, the characters grapple with their fears, wounds and longings. In a cascading flow of language, they use their experiences as bonding superglue, balm, shields, diversions and weapons.

What begins as a polyphonic tapestry and a search for connection ultimately blurs the boundaries of the garden entirely, asking what spaces for vulnerability, mutual recognition and possibilities for healing might look like – without resolving the contradictions and fractures inherent in human relationships.

Invited to the 2023 Heidelberger Stückemarkt, *Doppeltreppe zum Wald* won the Audience Award, the SWR Radio Play Prize and, later, the second Else Lasker-Schüler Play Prize. The text was written as part of the *Unconventional Signs* writing workshop at the Ballhaus Naunynstraße.

The Volksbühne is staging this staged reading during the 2026/27 season, partly in response to racist attacks on an event organised by the theatre for Black* communities in August, which ultimately could not go ahead due to security concerns. *Doppeltreppe zum Wald* explores the (im)possibility of Black spaces within a predominantly white society and provides a platform for the diversity of voices and contradictions inherent in Black experiences, which were in danger of being overshadowed in public debate by simplistic narratives of victimhood.

Note on the content

The text addresses experiences of racism, mental illness, as well as suicide and suicidal thoughts

*‘Black’ is capitalised and ‘white’ is italicised, as these terms do not refer to actual or imagined skin colours, but describe the social position of people within racist power structures. ‘Black’ is a self-designation used by Black people, the capitalisation of which emphasises self-awareness and resistance. ‘White’ describes a privileged, dominant position that is usually not questioned.