The West Ain't What It Used To Be

Many people are concerned about the state of democracy in the United States. Is it on the brink of collapse? Is a civil war looming? Are the tech billionaires contributing to its downfall?

Thanksgiving in Berlin. Fred and his American wife have invited guests from Rhonda’s hometown to a turkey dinner. Inevitably, the conversation veers from the American Dream, via Karl May and the Western, to the topic of all topics: What’s going on in America? And where does country music actually come from? The evening escalates.

In the fourth instalment of its series ‘The West Ain’t What It Used To Be’, The Waltraud Experience – a company co-producing with the English Theatre Berlin under the direction of Günther Grosser – tackles one of the most contentious issues of our time: where is America heading? The two camps, right and left, stand in complete and irreconcilable opposition to one another; nothing is moving forward.

The recently deceased country music icon Dolly Parton was often regarded as a figure of reconciliation on whom both the Right and the Left could agree. If you look more closely, however, you quickly realise that Dolly preferred to stay out of it. She sang, she cracked jokes and she insisted on ‘positive thinking’. But politics? Better not.

IN ENGLISH