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Max Mueller Bhavan | India New Delhi

Roland Schimmelpfennig
Selected Plays

Roland Schimmelpfennig not only writes for the stage, but since 2016, novels as well. Photo (detail): © dpa-Zentralbild / Jan Woitas

ROLAND SCHIMMELPFENNIG


Roland Schimmelpfennig, born 1967, is one of the most performed contemporary playwrights internationally. He worked as a journalist in Istanbul and was engaged at the Munich Kammerspiele after studying directing at the Otto Falckenberg School.

Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan Mumbai has collaborated with Mr. Schimmelpfennig for a translation project “Junge deutsche Dramatik in südasiatischen Sprachen” in which his eight plays will be translated into various south Asian languages, along with other contemporary German playwrights.
 

Das fliegende Kind

It has to be really dark when children and their parents go out into the night with their lanterns. And, just like every year, there are lots of pairs of children and halves of parents. They drag the little ones, shove the big ones, follow the light. And, just like every year, the halves chat with the other halves. So, unfortunately, no one notices when the little one quickly ducks back because he left his car somewhere.
 

Der Zinnsoldat und die Papiertänzerin

Once upon a time, there was a paper ballerina and a tin soldier with only one leg, nobody was fond of either of them. They were not part of the collection of toys, they were just arbritrarily placed on the window ledge. Love at first site – no sooner that they discover the lovely feeling, the window opens and unwillingly, they are forced to embark upon an adventure. He is heavy like a stone, he falls down – she is as light as a feather, she whirls in the air.

Die ewige Maria

Maria and Karl want to get married. But the boy next door is away, and without the boy, the pair can’t wed. Karl goes looking for the boy and brings him back. The boy has a missing eye.
Karl and Maria celebrate their wedding. Maria wants to go away with Karl to build a new life together – open a bakery or a cheap hair salon.

Die vier Himmelsrichtungen

A truck driver has an accident, leaves his cargo lying in a ditch by the roadside, and sets off in search of a better life. Another man discovers the abandoned boxes on his way to work. The colourful modelling balloons they contain allow him to try his luck as a street artist.

Idomeneus

Triumphant, Idomeneus returns home from the Trojan War with his fleet. But shortly before Crete seventy-nine of his eighty ships sink. In despair Idomeneus invokes the sea. For his survival he promises to sacrifice the first living being that will cross his path in Crete. He doesn’t anticipate yet that it will be his son Idamantes. In Mozart’s opera Idomeneo Idamantes has the possibility to fight for his life and thereby soothe the oracle.

Push Up 1, 2, 3

They are on the move to the executive level, to board meetings, to the diplomatic missions abroad, or they are about to end their career: they are fired, suspended or sent into early retirement. The women and men in “Push up 1-3” work on the office floors of a large corporation, the scene of three power struggles, each of which is fought by two people at a time – a merciless competition against each other for professional and personal interests. 

Vorher/Nachher

Vorher / Nachher (Before / After) is a montage in fifty one parts.In Bathrooms, hallways, stairwells, hotel rooms, doorways, bedrooms— young couples and old couples and their everyday lives.Sustained between disillusion and happiness—like an extended snapshot, this play is about people experiencing life where disenchantment sets in—where disappointment takes hold. Cold disillusion. Thoughtful disappointment. Welcome to happiness. 

Wintersonnenwende

It’s just before Christmas and Albert and Bettina, a well-heeled couple with one child, is extremely riled. Bettina’s mother, Corinna, has come to stay. The relationship between mother and daughter is tense, and the conflicts between them smoulder. Not only does Corinna want to stay until New Year’s Eve, but she’s also invited along with a person she met by chance on the train. Rudolph, as he is called, is an aesthete – a highly ambivalent and inscrutable one. Roland Schimmelpfennig’s play centres on issues of personal and political boundaries, and the question of when a person should assume responsibility.

Translations:

About Roland Schimmelpfennig

Roland Schimmelpfennig, born in 1967, is one of the most performed contemporary playwrights internationally. He worked as a journalist in Istanbul and was engaged at the Munich Kammerspiele after studying directing at the Otto Falckenberg School.

Since 1996 Roland Schimmelpfennig has been working as a freelance author. His plays are performed with great success in over 40 countries worldwide from Vienna’s Burgtheater to Tokyo's National Theatre and within India.

In 2016, his first novel "On a cold, clear January morning at the beginning of the 21st century" was published and was shortlisted for the Leipzig Book Fair Prize. Up to now, he has written three dozen stage and radio plays. His plays have been translated into 20 languages. In the summer of 2010, he was awarded the Mülheimer Dramatikerpreis, regarded as the highest honour for a playwright in the German language. Previous winners include Nobel laureate Elfriede Jelinek and East German playwright Heiner Müller.

Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan Mumbai has collaborated with Mr Schimmelpfennig for a translation project “Junge Deutsche Dramatik in südasiatischen Sprachen” in which his eight plays will be translated into various south Asian languages, along with other contemporary German playwrights.

Prizes and Awards:

  • Else-Lasker-Schüler-Preis for "Fisch um Fisch" (1997)
  • Fördergabe des Schiller-Gedächtnispreises von Baden-Württemberg (1998)
  • Einladung zu den Mülheimer Theatertagen 2000, 2001 und 2002
  • Nestroy Prize 2002 as best young author
  • Invitation to the Mülheim Theatre Days 2003 for his play Vorher/Nachher ("Before/After")
  • Invitation to Stücke 2004 at the Mülheim Theatertage
  • Invitation to the Mülheim Theatre Days 2005 for his play ''Die Frau von früher" (i.e."The Woman from the Past")
  • Invitation to the Mülheim Theatre Days 2009 for his play Hier und Jetzt (i.e. "Here and Now")
  • Nestroy Prize for the best play (Besuch bei dem Vater, i.e. "Visit at the Father") 2009
  • Else-Lasker-Schüler-Prize 2010
  • Invitation to and prize at the 2010 Mülheim Theatertage with The Golden Dragon
  • The Golden Dragon was chosen as play of the year in the 2010 Theater Heute yearbook critics survey

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