Fritzi Wartenberg (GER/AT)

Biedermann is outraged by the arsonists who have been starting fire everywhere – at least while he is at his local pub or on social media. But when they actually knock on his door, he politely asks them in, even though they make no attempt to hide their intentions. You have to have manners, after all. And you have to be civil: they are just two harmless peddlers. And if they aren’t, it’s better not to make an enemy of them. It would be unwise to afford that, even though you can afford (almost) everything else.
Written as a political parable, the play targets a mindset that contributes to the success of destructive forces. How does it happen? Why, what for and by who are the impulses to understand simply pushed aside?

„Director Fritzi Wartenberg, who is producing at the Berliner Ensemble as part of the “Worx” program to promote young talent, has turned the original [text] into an entertaining evening worth seeing, which in the end justifiably inspires enthusiasm in the Werkraum in the Berliner Ensemble’s new building.” – Berliner Morgenpost (quote originally in German)

Catharina Margaretha Linck was born in Gehofen, Thuringia, in 1687. At the age of 15, Linck took control of their life by breaking out of an orphanage and assuming a new identity as Anastasius Lagrantinus Rosenstengel, living life as a man from that moment on. They were subsequently drafted into the military, soon gained the reputation of a ladies’ man with the help of a “leather tool”, deserted the army, were sentenced to death, managed to escape, married young Catharina Mühlhahn, for which they ended up in court and were finally sentenced to death. Anastasius was the last person born as biologically female to be executed in Europe for fornication with another woman in 1721.

Catharina Margaretha Linck was born in Gehofen, Thuringia, in 1687. At the age of 15, Linck took control of their life by breaking out of an orphanage and assuming a new identity as Anastasius Lagrantinus Rosenstengel, living life as a man from that moment on. They were subsequently drafted into the military, soon gained the reputation of a ladies’ man with the help of a “leather tool”, deserted the army, were sentenced to death, managed to escape, married young Catharina Mühlhahn, for which they ended up in court and were finally sentenced to death. Anastasius was the last person born as biologically female to be executed in Europe for fornication with another woman in 1721.

„Director Fritzi Wartenberg, who is producing at the Berliner Ensemble as part of the “Worx” program to promote young talent, has turned the original [text] into an entertaining evening worth seeing, which in the end justifiably inspires enthusiasm in the Werkraum in the Berliner Ensemble’s new building.” – Berliner Morgenpost (quote originally in German)