Das große Heft

based on the novel by Agota Kristóf
Director: Karin Henkel
Premiere on 15/11/2025 at the SchauSpielHaus

Two twin brothers are brought from the city to live with their grandmother in the countryside. It's wartime, and the city is being bombed. "I'll show you how to live!" says their grandmother, who is universally called "the witch" in the village. She calls her two grandchildren "sons of bitches"—the children can't expect affection and tenderness from her. Virtually left to their own devices, they must learn how to survive in a world of violence, hunger, and misery; how to become immune to psychological and physical pain; how to beg, lie, steal, and kill. There is no play in this world; everything is training for emergencies, for decisions about life and death. The twins compile their experiences in a large notebook. Ágota Kristóf invents a unique language for them that makes her world-famous as an author: analytical, observant, and cold, the children recount their everyday lives during the war. The emotions triggered by the stories are all the more oppressive.

With: Nils Kahnwald, Kristof Van Boven and Julia Wieninger
Dancers: Sabine Molenaar and Maria Carolina
Director: Karin Henkel
Stage: Katrin Brack
Stage design collaboration: Malte Knipping
Costumes: Nina von Mechow
Music: Arvild J. Baud
Lighting: Holger Stellwag
Dramaturgy: Christian Tschirner