Die Gelbe Tapete

Based on the short story of the same name by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, as well as “Medical Muses” by Asti Hustvedt

Three women have stopped functioning. Each in her own way, in her own time. Each of them encounters the yellow wallpaper. Lotte cannot escape it. Her husband has ordered her to rest completely in the yellow-walled bedroom so she can recover from her nervous breakdown. In her new apartment, with its yellow wallpaper, Lene searches online for ways to cope with depression. And on the walls of Louise’s cell in the mental hospital, the yellow pattern begins to emerge whenever she has another episode. “Hysteria,” the professor diagnosed at first glance.
The wallpaper won’t let the women go. It casts a spell over them. It robs them of sleep. And the wallpaper changes. The three women begin to see figures behind the pattern. Are they shaking the wallpaper? Do they want to get out?
Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s short story, published in 1892 and influenced by her own experiences with postpartum depression and its treatment, was accused by doctors immediately upon its publication of actually being capable of driving readers mad. Today it is considered a key feminist text, a prime example of a narrative about the imprisoned woman. This production pairs the protagonist from Perkins Gilman’s story with two other women: a young patient suffering from hysteria, whose storyline draws in part on historically documented figures and events, and a woman who is struggling with mental health issues in the here and now.
In doing so, the production explores how we treat FLINTA* individuals with mental illness, as well as the breaks and continuities across different eras: How do we interact with them? Do we listen to them? Do we welcome them into our midst, or do we marginalize them? And what ways out do these women seek for themselves?

Cast: Clara Naima Sallat, Taliesin Kühn, Elisabeth Deml, Leonard Ruhland & Felix Kainzbauer

Text & Direction: Caroline Hain
Dramaturgy: Mona Bierenstiel
Set Design: Franziska Funke


The project is supervised by:
Board Member: Lukas Möller
Artistic Director: Carlotta Riedelsheimer
Ensemble Council: Leonore Henning

Website: https://www.ensemblejedermensch.de/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ensemblejedermensch

Content Warning: Depictions of sexual violence, experiences of discrimination and oppression, and suicidal thoughts