Editing by Jürgen Wölffer
Philipp Klapproth is bored. On his country estate near Berlin, it seems to him that everyone has more to experience and more to tell than he does. His idea: A mental institution is needed!
A day with real "crazies" promises a lot of stories for the local pub. He lures his nephew with a financial injection if he can find him such an establishment. Lured by the promise of money, he declares the ordinary "Pension Schöller" to be a mental institution. The plan works, the uncle meets the eccentric guests of the guesthouse there, and they make an excellent mental institution. There is, for example, the scientist Bernhardy, who knows how to tell stories of lion hunts, the writer Zillertal, who collects stories, or the retired major who demands a duel. When the characters suddenly appear at Klapproth's home, chaos ensues.
PENSION SCHÖLLER is still a prime example of the blurring of normality and insanity a hundred years after its creation, showing with humor and grandiose pace how fluid the boundaries between the mad and the rational can be.
Director Max Simonischek brings the comedy to the big stage in his first work for the Staatstheater Cottbus. The seemingly harmless comedy becomes grotesque, tear-inducing and ensemble theater full of great playfulness, with a sense of humor and rhythm.