• problem quartet
• debate play
• moral thriller

What would you do if you were about to become prime minister of the country and suddenly learnt of a crime committed by your adolescent son and his cousin? For which there seem to be no witnesses and which is already beginning to disappear from the country's short-term memory?

Two pairs of parents meet for dinner in a posh restaurant and carefully feel their way through the aperitif, starter and numerous other courses. Each individual in this family quartet knows more than they initially thought and assesses the situation differently. Was it childish naivety, youthful testing of boundaries or a cold crime committed by their sons? Should they report their children so that the youngsters can be held responsible? Or would it be better to cover up the whole thing so as not to ruin their sons' future? After all, it was only a neglected homeless woman who died and who really won't be missed by anyone, and don't the adults have something to lose too? The fact is: in the end, a person is dead. And the parents need to talk.

The Dinner is a moral thriller and a debate play full of clever twists and surprising feints. It is about violence and how it survives powerfully under the thin veneer of civilisation, how the human instinct for aggression is transmitted within the family and hushed up by society, how it is repressed, played down and medicated to ensure that everything continues to function well. The play is directed by András Dömötör, who has staged numerous plays at the Deutsches Theater in recent seasons: most recently Prima Facie by Suzie Miller at the Kammer and Verführung by Lukas Bärfuss at the DT Stage.