Terror
by Ferdinand von Schirach
Director Hasko Weber
Set Thilo Reuther
Costumes Camilla Daemen
Video-/Soundart Daniel Hengst
Dramaturgy Ulrich Beck
World Premiere October 03, 2015
There are 164 people on board flight LH 2047 from Berlin Tegel to Munich. The aeroplane, hijacked by a terrorist, is heading towards the Allianz Arena where 70,000 fans are watching the sold-out match between Germany and England. Major Lars Koch, fighter jet pilot for the German Federal Forces, has to react. What will his orders be? Should he – may he even – shoot down the passenger plane if the terrorists don’t relent? The clock is ticking, and Lars Koch makes a decision. Only a few weeks later, he has to justify this decision in front of a lay court.
In his first stage play, Ferdinand von Schirach explores the question of human dignity. Can one life be weighed against another, no matter how high the numbers of people involved? What reasons can there be for warding off a disaster by allowing another, allegedly smaller, one to take place? What does it mean not to be able to decide, but to have to decide when there is no third party? Who are the people responsible? Or does Lars Koch have to face the court alone? The lay judges have to decide.
In his first stage play, Ferdinand von Schirach explores the question of human dignity. Can one life be weighed against another, no matter how high the numbers of people involved? What reasons can there be for warding off a disaster by allowing another, allegedly smaller, one to take place? What does it mean not to be able to decide, but to have to decide when there is no third party? Who are the people responsible? Or does Lars Koch have to face the court alone? The lay judges have to decide.
Almut ZilcherChairman
Timo WeisschnurLars Koch, defendant
Aylin EsenerBiegler, defense lawyer
Franziska MachensNelson, public prosecutor
Helmut MooshammerChristian Lauterbach, witness
Lisa HrdinaFranziska Meiser, witness
Chairman
Lars Koch, defendant
Biegler, defense lawyer
Nelson, public prosecutor
Christian Lauterbach, witness
Franziska Meiser, witness
“Might the passengers have succeeded in storming the cockpit at the last minute? And why did nobody come up with the idea of evacuating the stadium? The deeper the prosecution delves, the more dubious the “godlike” intervention of the pilot appears to be. Did he have to kill 164 innocent people in order to save 70,000? Was it murder or an act of heroism? The audience has to decide. Neither in Berlin nor Frankfurt is the verdict “guilty”. In both cities, the audience brought in a verdict of “not guilty”. Huge applause in both theatres for the acting and directing – above all for the author, who made a brief appearance on stage in Berlin.” Murderer or hero?
“Might the passengers have succeeded in storming the cockpit at the last minute? And why did nobody come up with the idea of evacuating the stadium? The deeper the prosecution delves, the more dubious the “godlike” intervention of the pilot appears to be. Did he have to kill 164 innocent people in order to save 70,000? Was it murder or an act of heroism? The audience has to decide. Neither in Berlin nor Frankfurt is the verdict “guilty”. In both cities, the audience brought in a verdict of “not guilty”. Huge applause in both theatres for the acting and directing – above all for the author, who made a brief appearance on stage in Berlin.”
“The fighter-jet pilot Lars Koch sits in front of a concrete wall, beside him big pictures of ‘Ground Zero’ in New York. Director Hasko Weber and his team work minimalistically. They focus entirely on the language, on the explosive nature of the conflict.” ‘Terror’: the audience decides if the pilot is guilty
“The fighter-jet pilot Lars Koch sits in front of a concrete wall, beside him big pictures of ‘Ground Zero’ in New York. Director Hasko Weber and his team work minimalistically. They focus entirely on the language, on the explosive nature of the conflict.”
“The climax is clever and sophisticated. The jury, i.e. the audience, has to decide whether the man accused of murdering 164 people is guilty or not guilty, because only by shooting down the aircraft could he prevent it exploding in the Allianz arena. The jurist Ferdinand von Schirach provides convincing arguments for both sides. He thereby drives the aporia of his thought experiment to the extreme: if both judgements – guilty and not guilty of murder – can be convincingly argued, the trial cannot lead to a resolution but rather back to the starting point: to an unsolvable moral dilemma.” The loudspeaker says: you must not kill
“The climax is clever and sophisticated. The jury, i.e. the audience, has to decide whether the man accused of murdering 164 people is guilty or not guilty, because only by shooting down the aircraft could he prevent it exploding in the Allianz arena. The jurist Ferdinand von Schirach provides convincing arguments for both sides. He thereby drives the aporia of his thought experiment to the extreme: if both judgements – guilty and not guilty of murder – can be convincingly argued, the trial cannot lead to a resolution but rather back to the starting point: to an unsolvable moral dilemma.”