Kesselhaus Theater-Ensemble: Frau im Wald
«It is actually a day like any other,» Frau Meier tells herself as she goes through her to-do list in her head like every morning: She has to get rolls, search for the rabbit that has escaped, and go to the dentist.
But the day turns out differently than expected. Her car is gone, and the rabbit lies dead in front of the window. Suddenly, the seemingly endless to-do list in Frau Meier's head unravels, blending with memories, fears, and the voice on the radio that speaks of missing women.
The 8 actors of the Kesselhaus Ensemble guide us through this cacophony of thoughts, experiences, and fantasies, following the traces that lead from Frau Meier's apartment to the garden, to the women at the tram stop, into the forest, presenting us with a polyphonic piece about mental load against a backdrop of chair towers, numerous shoes, and plush rabbits, where everyday life and states of emergency intermingle. Like Frau Meier, the audience is soon confronted with questions: What is real? Who is actually speaking here? And: When does reality end, where does the dream world begin?
Mental load: this is the weight in one’s head that arises from having to think of everything all the time - an issue that is structurally relevant, especially for women*.
What feels like an individual problem for Frau Meier actually affects many. Julia Hänni, the author of the play frau im wald, also comments on the attempt to represent the individual in the many and the many in the individual: «The cacophony of voices shows the overwhelm and simultaneously represents the addition of various problems and opinions.»
The staging of the Kesselhaus Ensemble unites this tension between individual overwhelm and mental load as a collective problem, inviting us to question what happens when we no longer perceive Frau Meier as just a single individual, but assume that there are many Frau Meiers.
Under the direction of Simone Lüdi (Assistant: Laura Simonelli), Anja Meyer, Alexandra Krimmer, Eva Winter, Claudia Palladino, Barbara Wellinger, Doris Leimeier, Timm Rosburg, and Liwia Rajpert perform.
Julia Hänni
The author of the play (1988 in the canton of Aargau) studied theater direction at the ZHdK, as well as theater studies and German studies at the universities of Bern and Berlin.
Her play frau im wald was created as part of the DRAMENPROZESSORS, where Hänni was a scholarship holder in 2017, and had its world premiere in 2018.
This was followed by the world premiere of the play frau verschwindet (versions) in 2019, the publication of the text collection kiosktexte in 2020, and the publication of the photo and text book ICH WILL ALLES! in collaboration with Mali Lazell, which documents the Swiss feminist strike of 2019. Since 2022, Hänni has been working freelance, conducting workshops and teaching at the theater department of the ZHdK.
Julia Hänni’s works have received numerous awards. In 2020 she was awarded the Berner Literaturpreis and in 2024 she received the Deutscher Jugendtheaterpreis for ANGST ODER HASE.
Frau im Wald
by Julia Hänni
Directed by: Simone Lüdi
Hallo, ich bin Maya.
