Let Them Eat Money. Which Future?! (Let Them Eat Money. Welche Zukunft?!)

by Andres Veiel in collaboration with Jutta Doberstein

A look into the future! Using participatory formats, Andres Veiel has written a play based on a collaboration with academics and citizens on the subjects of work, finance, the environment, etc., which deals with the past in the future: in 2028, a committee of inquiry asks who is responsible for the events of the years 2018 to 2028. After Italy’s withdrawal from the EU in 2023, Europe finds itself facing one of the biggest crises in its history – reason enough to take countermeasures and introduce an unconditional basic income in the rest of the EU. But an economic crash is unstoppable. Can the cause be found in a random chain of the best intentions? Andres Veiel’s aim is to confront conflicting visions of the future beyond the confines of legislative periods or political party interests. So both utopian and dystopian moments are equally up for discussion. What steps are were tracing? And which are we leaving behind?

Coproduction with The Humboldt Forum in the Berlin Palace, sponsored by the German Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media on the basis of a resolution of the German Bundestag.

Information on the research and the overall project can also be found at www.welchezukunft.org

Director Andres Veiel

Set Julia Kaschlinski

Costumes Michaela Barth

Video Daniel Hengst

Music Fabian Kalker

Movement and aerial acrobatics choreography Sasha Krohn

Dramaturgy Ulrich Beck

World premiere
28 September 2018, Deutsches Theater
Co-production with the Stiftung Humboldt Forum im Berliner Schloss

Kathleen MorgeneyerYldune Kaayan

Thorsten HierseHans "Onz" Perret

Susanne-Marie WrageFranca Roloeg

Paul GrillRappo Rosser

Timo WeisschnurStefan Tarp

Jörg PoseFrerich Konnst

Celia Bähr / Luise HartSina, Yldune's daughter

Jürgen HuthJürgen Bandowski

Fabian Kalker / Nicolas FehrLive music

Kathleen Morgeneyer

Yldune Kaayan

Thorsten Hierse

Hans "Onz" Perret

Susanne-Marie Wrage

Franca Roloeg

Paul Grill

Rappo Rosser

Timo Weisschnur

Stefan Tarp

Jörg Pose

Frerich Konnst

Celia Bähr / Luise Hart

Sina, Yldune's daughter

Jürgen Huth

Jürgen Bandowski

Fabian Kalker / Nicolas Fehr

Live music

Let Them Eat Money. Which Future?!

Interview with Andres Veiel

Deutschlandfunk Kultur

Barbara Behrendt, 29.09.2018

Veiel offers up [...] a beguiling thought experiment, a cleverly thought-out dystopia, which is never content with simple questions or simple solutions and often touches on the problems of reality. [...]

A profound theatre laboratory, an exuberant piece of intellectual theatre, conceptually a successful research experiment. Veiel offers up [...] a beguiling thought experiment, a cleverly thought-out dystopia, which is never content with simple questions or simple solutions and often touches on the problems of reality. [...]

A profound theatre laboratory, an exuberant piece of intellectual theatre, conceptually a successful research experiment.

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Inforadio vom rbb

Nadine Kreuzahler, 29.09.2018

Veiel manages to condense many of the urgent questions and debates of our time and to dismiss the audience at the end of the evening with something to think about. Veiel manages to condense many of the urgent questions and debates of our time and to dismiss the audience at the end of the evening with something to think about.

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Berliner Morgenpost

Georg Kasch, 30.09.2018

The play "Let Them Eat Money", developed by Veiel [...], is an earnest attempt to imagine the possible effects of today’s crises and problems. An evening that shakes things up before it’s too late. The play "Let Them Eat Money", developed by Veiel [...], is an earnest attempt to imagine the possible effects of today’s crises and problems. An evening that shakes things up before it’s too late.

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Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

Hannah Bethke, 02.10.2018

"We will call to account those who have used up our future,” says Yldune, who is played so powerfully by Kathleen Morgeneyer that it is worth seeing this thoughtful political piece for her performance alone – but also for the symbiosis of the colour tones, music, characters and the story that is told. "We will call to account those who have used up our future,” says Yldune, who is played so powerfully by Kathleen Morgeneyer that it is worth seeing this thoughtful political piece for her performance alone – but also for the symbiosis of the colour tones, music, characters and the story that is told.

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New York Times

A.J. Goldmann, 21.11.2018

The script by Mr. Veiel, a noted filmmaker, and his collaborator Jutta Doberstein does a fine job dramatizing the complex ideas developed during the workshops, explaining complex hypothetical economic and political scenarios in clever and nuanced ways. The tight eight-person cast spends a lot of time explaining what went wrong and how, but the fluid and sleekly futuristic staging, featuring video projections, stark lighting and some onstage acrobatics, holds the audience's attention well.

The result is an engrossing drama that skillfully avoids preaching or propagandizing [...] The script by Mr. Veiel, a noted filmmaker, and his collaborator Jutta Doberstein does a fine job dramatizing the complex ideas developed during the workshops, explaining complex hypothetical economic and political scenarios in clever and nuanced ways. The tight eight-person cast spends a lot of time explaining what went wrong and how, but the fluid and sleekly futuristic staging, featuring video projections, stark lighting and some onstage acrobatics, holds the audience's attention well.

The result is an engrossing drama that skillfully avoids preaching or propagandizing [...]

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