
The Chips Are Down (Das Spiel ist aus)
by Jean-Paul Sartre
André Charlier poisones his wife Eve. At the same time, the resistance fighter Pierre Dumaine is shot. While alive never having met, Eve and Pierre know get to know each other in the realm of the dead. Now they became mere spectators of life: they can’t move anything, change anything, feel anything. However, they fall in love - and get a second chance. To realize their love, they may come back to life, on one condition: to trust each other fully for 24 hours. But Pierre tries to stop his comrades from a planned assault, and Eve wants to protect her sister from her husband. They squander their chance and return to the realm of the dead, this time for good.
In his screenplay from 1943, Jean-Paul Sartre has allowed himself to play a game. Nevertheless, his text is more than just a dalliance: The story about death still raises questions about life. In a society in which revolutions are only followed by new dictators, in which joy is frowned at and there’s no time for feelings - where's is the difference between the living souls and Sartre's dead? Do you have to lose your life in order to understand it? And can this knowledge make a difference in the end?
In his screenplay from 1943, Jean-Paul Sartre has allowed himself to play a game. Nevertheless, his text is more than just a dalliance: The story about death still raises questions about life. In a society in which revolutions are only followed by new dictators, in which joy is frowned at and there’s no time for feelings - where's is the difference between the living souls and Sartre's dead? Do you have to lose your life in order to understand it? And can this knowledge make a difference in the end?
Director Jette Steckel
Set Florian Lösche
Costumes Pauline Hüners
Music The Notwist
Musical supervision Mark Badur, Volker Wendisch
Video Alexander Bunge
Dramaturgy Anika Steinhoff
Premiere March 28, 2014
Judith HofmannEve

Ole LagerpuschPierre

Alexander KhuonAndré Charlier/ Eve's father/ Dancer

Birgit UnterwegerLucette/ street singer/ Jeanne [for Barbara Heynen]

Natali SeeligMadame Barbezat/ Renaudel/Regent/Dancer

Elias ArensThe old man/ Dixonne/ Lucien Derjeu

Sarah M. LauksMarquise/ The regent's assistant/ Rose
Till-Jan MeinenOffizicer/ Terrorist

Ray Reimannsound engineer
Margitta Azadian, Mohammed Azadian, David Behnke, Valentin Pinto Leivasmutes
Eve
Pierre
André Charlier/ Eve's father/ Dancer
Lucette/ street singer/ Jeanne [for Barbara Heynen]
Madame Barbezat/ Renaudel/Regent/Dancer
The old man/ Dixonne/ Lucien Derjeu
Sarah M. Lauks
Marquise/ The regent's assistant/ Rose
Offizicer/ Terrorist
Ray Reimann
sound engineer
Margitta Azadian, Mohammed Azadian, David Behnke, Valentin Pinto Leivas
mutes