Commissioned by Schauspiel Leipzig
OST (UA)
Mascha has little left to do but count: who else is still here, and who has already gone? How many seeds does a sunflower still yield, and which of them are fit to eat or to be entrusted to the earth, so that one distant day many may grow from them? Who will make it to that day? The rumbling of her stomach can barely be heard from outside; all creatures, along with their sounds, have already been wiped out, and even the strings of the bandura have been swallowed by Father Stalin. Mascha starves in the silence of Kharkiv in the year 1933.
1941/42: The ‘International’ in the classrooms has also fallen silent. Those being transported to Germany are Eastern workers. Like Dussya and Masha again. They are the cargo in these wagons, which deliver them to the armaments factory in Coswig/Anhalt. At least together. That is who they are. It is what remains. There they have to measure the black stuff, press the yellow stuff. From now on, from dawn till dusk. Side by side. Until one of them is taken away.
In 1962, the family gathers around the kitchen table in Coswig. The ‘international’ is in the air again, a buttered roll on every child’s plate. Spread by the father with his own hands – no, with one hand, that is, with just one – . But how? One hand is missing. And in the year 2000, the second plate is missing. The mother does not eat with them. She keeps the child company and encourages them so that they can eat heartily. Because there is not enough food at this table for two.
Wolfram Höll’s writing is characterised by precise rhythm and a subtle delineation of his stories. In this style, he presents a kaleidoscopic theatrical text with “OST”. His scenes are set in Ukraine, Poland, the GDR and present-day eastern Germany. Spanning a period from 1933 to the year 2025, the various temporal layers reveal historical snapshots based on – in part biographical – archival material. The poetry of the language stands out here in a productive contrast to the brutal events it recounts. At the heart of the play is the question of how such historical experiences are perpetuated – not only in political structures, but in biographies, families and memories.
Wolfram Höll is an author and radio play director. For Schauspiel Leipzig, “OST” marks the fifth world premiere of one of his plays at the Diskothek since 2013. Three of these plays were invited to the Mülheim Theatre Festival, with Wolfram Höll receiving the Mülheim Drama Prize on two occasions.
Director Thirza Bruncken is responsible for this world premiere; she previously staged “Drei sind wir” (2016) for Leipzig audiences. Other productions have taken her to the Schauspiel Köln, Volkstheater Wien, Schauspiel Frankfurt, Theater Dortmund, Nationaltheater Weimar, Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus, Residenztheater München and the Münchner Kammerspiele. In 2021, she was invited to the Autor:innentheatertage Berlin with her production of Sarah Kilters’ “White Passing” from the Schauspiel Leipzig. With over 50 performances to date, this play is an established part of the Diskothek’s repertoire.
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1941/42: The ‘International’ in the classrooms has also fallen silent. Those being transported to Germany are Eastern workers. Like Dussya and Masha again. They are the cargo in these wagons, which deliver them to the armaments factory in Coswig/Anhalt. At least together. That is who they are. It is what remains. There they have to measure the black stuff, press the yellow stuff. From now on, from dawn till dusk. Side by side. Until one of them is taken away.
In 1962, the family gathers around the kitchen table in Coswig. The ‘international’ is in the air again, a buttered roll on every child’s plate. Spread by the father with his own hands – no, with one hand, that is, with just one – . But how? One hand is missing. And in the year 2000, the second plate is missing. The mother does not eat with them. She keeps the child company and encourages them so that they can eat heartily. Because there is not enough food at this table for two.
Wolfram Höll’s writing is characterised by precise rhythm and a subtle delineation of his stories. In this style, he presents a kaleidoscopic theatrical text with “OST”. His scenes are set in Ukraine, Poland, the GDR and present-day eastern Germany. Spanning a period from 1933 to the year 2025, the various temporal layers reveal historical snapshots based on – in part biographical – archival material. The poetry of the language stands out here in a productive contrast to the brutal events it recounts. At the heart of the play is the question of how such historical experiences are perpetuated – not only in political structures, but in biographies, families and memories.
Wolfram Höll is an author and radio play director. For Schauspiel Leipzig, “OST” marks the fifth world premiere of one of his plays at the Diskothek since 2013. Three of these plays were invited to the Mülheim Theatre Festival, with Wolfram Höll receiving the Mülheim Drama Prize on two occasions.
Director Thirza Bruncken is responsible for this world premiere; she previously staged “Drei sind wir” (2016) for Leipzig audiences. Other productions have taken her to the Schauspiel Köln, Volkstheater Wien, Schauspiel Frankfurt, Theater Dortmund, Nationaltheater Weimar, Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus, Residenztheater München and the Münchner Kammerspiele. In 2021, she was invited to the Autor:innentheatertage Berlin with her production of Sarah Kilters’ “White Passing” from the Schauspiel Leipzig. With over 50 performances to date, this play is an established part of the Diskothek’s repertoire.
Premiere on 11.12.2026
Diskothek
Diskothek