Capitalism is a word that is difficult for him to say.

When it's on his tongue, he'll start screaming.

The leftist writer who wants to write a piece that is critical of capitalism because capitalism is “bad and completely depraved” fails because of his own ambitions.

He stands on a green playing field in a suit whose pattern is exactly the same as that of the field.

From there he monologues about the order that determines our existence.

It quickly becomes clear: life is a game whose rules we are all subject to.

This also applies now, with this funny evening at the theater in the Kammerspiele des Schauspiel Frankfurt.

Kevin Hanschke

Volunteer.

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The director Lea Gockel makes her debut here with the German-language premiere of the comedic chamber play “The Face of Evil” by Nis-Momme Stockmann.

The play wants to show the abysses of our economic order - actually a little innovative undertaking for a German-speaking stage.

But Gockel's humorous staging is more contemporary than many other things that otherwise question the free market.

The text was performed for the first time in Aarhus in spring 2021.

"They all look so nice."

The piece consists of three scenes. First, the nameless writer, played by Sebastian Kuschmann, speaks a monologue about the facelessness of the economic order and asks about the "face of evil". Is it the hedge fund managers, the politicians, the board members? “They all look so nice.” The fact that he cannot find an answer to his question leads him to the edge of madness. "A self-respecting author has to criticize capitalism," he says with his head held high, but it quickly subsides again.

Gockel's adaptation is a collage of criticism of capitalism that bows to capitalism. In a staccato rhythm, the writer shoots his word volleys without a point or comma into the hall. The performance evolves into an elevator pitch, with the stopwatch constantly running. In Gockel's production, time means money, also in the theater. The writer stumbles over his words because the invisible hand of the market, which he wants to dissect, lets the text fall apart until only efficient scraps of text remain. The economic order also shapes the theater. He cynically notes that “the main sponsor of the show is still Deutsche Bank”.

With the second scene comes the radical cut. The spotlights are now on the beating heart of capitalism, in which a psychological chamber play unfolds. Two archivists, called Schwarz, played by Friederike Ott, and Blau, played by Fridolin Sandmeyer, sit in the basement of a high-rise bank between their files. The set is cold and barren: surveillance cameras, monitors, bare walls. The pinstripe suits are tight, their hair is combed back strictly, their faces petrified. But then the phone rings: You are supposed to go to the top floor of the "Tower" for a special assignment. They should bring files, secret files containing explosive information about tax evasion, corruption and crises. A good opportunity to make an impression on the bosses.But when you take the elevator, the efficiency machinery stops. The elevator gets stuck. For half an hour the two give each other an aggressive dialogue about the meaning of their existence, from which they emerge battered and broken. “I tried my best,” says Blau, crying. “Maybe that's the problem,” replies Schwarz acidly. When the elevator opens, demonstrators are standing in front of the door. But instead of joining them, they are now bitterly fighting over which of them can carry the briefcase upstairs and move up in the company hierarchy.“Maybe that's the problem,” replies Schwarz acidly. When the elevator opens, demonstrators are standing in front of the door. But instead of joining them, they are now bitterly fighting over which of them can carry the briefcase upstairs and move up in the company hierarchy.“Maybe that's the problem,” replies Schwarz acidly. When the elevator opens, demonstrators are standing in front of the door. But instead of joining them, they are now bitterly fighting over which of them can carry the briefcase upstairs and move up in the company hierarchy.

Stockmann and Gockel depict the imprisonment of the employees in their company. The elevator scene is reminiscent of the father-daughter relationship in “Toni Erdmann” and the habitus of the bankers in the series “Bad Banks”, for whom their careers are more important than anything else .

“At some point everyone has to go upstairs” is the unsatisfactory credo of this evening.

At the end the writer appears again, but again fails to find the right words for the crisis of order.

The clock is ticking incessantly.

The light goes out.

The question of what the evil face of capitalism looks like remains unanswered.

A last sentence quietly emerges from the dark on the stage: "The trick of capitalism is that it makes us look in the wrong places."