Was it childish naïveté, a youthful testing of boundaries or a cold-blooded crime? The fact is that a person lay dead at the end of it. But the CCTV-images are as unclear as the parents’ views on how the incident should be dealt with. Should the youngsters be held accountable – or should the whole thing rather be hushed up to avoid ruining their future. After all, it was just a homeless person who died. Are we not even allowed to become angry when these people just lie around everywhere without asking for permission? And don’t the adults have something to lose, too? One of the two fathers is in the middle of an election campaign – as a promising candidate for the office of prime minister.

From the posh restaurant to the DT canteen

The location for this morality-thriller by Dutch author Herman Koch is a posh restaurant where the bill comes to several hundred Euros at the end of the night. A place that couldn’t be more different from DT’s canteen where I am sitting with two men who are both business partners and friends: Tom Unguraitys and Gunnar Kohlmetz. Together, they make sure that DT provides a hospitable place to spend some time beyond the visit to the theatre, which is open and accessible and has something to offer for everyone who would like to eat at lunch-time or before the performance, or to have a drink in the evening.

For us who work in the theatre, the canteen and the bar are usually half-private regular haunts, where a great deal of the good and bad times in the theatre unfold: “Here in the canteen, we notice the mood very directly; we are aware of how things are going and what drama is happening where at the moment”, Gunnar says. Does his job as the canteen host include taking confession and listening to people’s woes? “Oh yes! You always take a psychological approach, you try to understand and reduce the tension”, Gunnar explains. Tom’s strategy: “Comfort and encouragement.”

Connected to the theater

Quite a few of their staff have been with them for a long time, as participating observers of life in the theatre and performance routine. “What is special is that only people who are truly interested in the theatre work in the canteen and in the bar”, says Tom, who has been a canteen host since 2001 and works at DT since 2009. “This is not always easy work, and it’s all the more important to identify with the theatre”, Gunnar adds and explains that all their staff contribute to the theatre’s success beyond their core competencies: they talk shop about the productions with the company, they have an eye on rehearsal schedules, and the deejay at opening night parties.

The last round can wait

The wild old times when revolutions were planned in theatre canteens open only to the initiated seem to be over – at least at DT – but the nights at the bar are still long.

“The bar-team has never learned to call ‘last round’ and the final beer can sometimes take an hour and a half to be finished here. We just try to create a space where everyone feels comfortable”, says Tom, and Gunnar looks ahead to the summer in this cold April weather: “My favourite place is the forecourt. I can’t wait to man the barbecue before the performances again. It’s fun to get people in the right mood for the theatre.”

By the time you’re reading this article, the barbecue will be ready. And there will always be plenty to discuss after a visit to theatre. In autumn, you might want to talk about the play Das Dinner. A play about cohesion in families and society, and a topic that could lead to heated discussions about what is working and what is going wrong, both in society and in one’s own nuclear family. Maybe over a drink at the bar? You’ll be sure to find interesting people to talk to there.