“If you have to leave the stage during the performance, do it the same way you came in: via the stage.” With these words, Health & Safety begins, immediately captivating the audience. The play is the second in a four-part series which traces the rise and fall of a city, written by Calla Henkel and Max Pitegoff for the Volksbühne’s Grüner Salon. Set in and around a karaoke bar in modern-day Berlin, Health & Safety – based loosely on Molière’s “The Misanthrope” – explores the Berlin state of mind, architecture and heartbreak, destruction and disease and the collapse of theory into practice. Where is the boundary between inside and out? The play addresses this question continuously. Outside, you can watch Daniel, a failed architecture student who lives in his car, while on the inside you can follow the bustle of the karaoke bar, including the slightly drunken ghost of Berlin’s prominent architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel, who wants to burn down the new city palace. If you want to be transported to a parallel world for 60 minutes, Health & Safety is just the play for you. (Text: Lisa Strube / Photos: Calla Henkel & Max Pitegoff / David Baltzer)
Grüner Salon, Volksbühne Berlin, Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz, 10178 Berlin; map
Health & Safety, on till 3.3.2018. Program and tickets here.
