zwei herren von real madrid

Mindfulness is a virtue that may apply to all situations of life. This also goes for the public sphere and for working life. In sports, especially in football, strong emotions may boil over more often than in general everyday life. But even professional footballers are nothing but human beings who rely on being treated with politeness and sometimes with gentleness.

This chance meeting of two gentleman somewhere in the woods tells the story of a lucky event where paying attention to the other’s needs and concerns is experienced as a reciprocal practice. One of them is a striker, the other is a midfield player. They start talking about their permanent fear of dying and about cups. And they realise: They both play for Real Madrid. What a delightful coincidence!

And because they take to each other and the midfielder has no plans for Christmas, the striker invites him to spend the holiday with his parents and himself. The parents become immediately fond of their son’s new friend, especially since they have no doubt at all that this is more than friendship. Whether and how the relationship status between the two of them can be defined is something that the striker’s mother at least will never find out: The home-made banana bread that the midfielder brings to the Christmas celebrations leads to an allergic shock and her premature demise. “She was probably just too polite to say no.” At least the funeral provides an opportunity for meeting again in a relaxed atmosphere, before it’s time to go back to the grind on the club’s premises.
With subtle humour, Leo Meier has created a world where polite professional football players arrive for practice flying on a dragon, where Sergio Ramos philosophises poignantly about the transience of life and where even sports stars have an unbearably normal Christmas.

Leo Meier studied drama and philosophy in Bochum and acting at Folkwang University of the Arts. He received the Folkwang-Prize for his graduating play “Tote gehen nicht ins Kino”. He has performed at theatres including Schauspielhaus Bochum and Schauspielhaus Hamburg and has been featured in several film and television productions.

“zwei herren von real madrid” will be directed by Albrecht Schroeder who has been working as an assistant director at Schauspiel Leipzig since 2020. Some of his first own productions were created during his time as an assistant director at Mainfranken Theater Würzburg. The set and costumes will be designed by Pascal Seibicke who studied with Katrin Brack at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich and worked at theatres including Staatsoper Hamburg, Staatstheater Wiesbaden, Mainfranken Theater Würzburg and Staatstheater Darmstadt.