Die Hebamme

Nepotism and social deprivation in a North Hessian town play the leading roles in Rolf Hochhuth's 1971 comedy. The material for his satire was provided by a municipal scandal in Kassel at the time. It was about the "Lettenlager" in Bettenhausen, where the residents lived in inhumane conditions, so much so that donations were even collected in Canada. The premiere of the play in Kassel, among other places, actually ensured that this deplorable situation was remedied.

Housing shortages and inflation, flight and expulsion, war and the post-war period have all become topical issues again. Rolf Hochhuth, born in Eschwege in 1931, was regarded as a co-founder of documentary theater. As a rigorous moralist and admonisher, Hochhuth repeatedly dealt with the National Socialist era and current political and social issues.

51 years after the premiere, we show Hochhuth's heroine Sophie, a midwife and, as a CDU party member, chairwoman of the social committee, and her unwavering fight against injustice. She has vowed to eliminate the shanty towns in her city by the time she retires. She senses the powerlessness to which everyone is condemned in a panopticon of municipal democracy and decides to go illegal. The papers of a long-dead woman are extremely helpful to Sophie ...

"The qualified midwife Sophie ... has to answer for her actions in court - a scene vividly reminiscent of Kleist's The Broken Jug or Zuckmayer's The Captain of Köpenick in its dazzling comedy." (Gerhard Ebert in Neues Deutschland on the premiere in 1972)

Tom Kühnel directs at the Deutsches Theater Berlin and the Staatsschauspiel Dresden, among others. Together with the Munich musician and performance artist Pollyester and a wide variety of associations in the city, Kassel will have plenty to laugh about, because life is one big show!

In cooperation with the dancers of the Rot-Weiss-Klub Kassel e.V., the children's choir of the Wilhelmsgymnasium Kassel, the Kassel City Archive, as well as the State Association of Hessian Midwives e.V. North Hesse, the Bund freiberuflicher Hebammen Deutschlands e.V. and Kleine Riesen Nordhessen gGmbH.