Dirk Cieslak "Was kostet unser Gas?" Ein Agit Prop Musical

How can you really make a fortune with heat? Rally a chaotic hodgepodge of consultants, experts, agencies, and private and public associations—all of whom complain and whine a lot on their own, but agree that they want to make a lot of money from heat. Hang around in parliaments and ministries. Hire an army of lawyers, business administrators, and experts who shape an absurd world of negligence and legitimate enrichment. Dump buckets full of communication sludge, ramble on about security, and establish a toothless consulting industry that drives tenants—trapped by monopolies and contracts—into resignation. This creates a special economic zone protected by ignorance and a sense of power, in which individual tenants flounder. All the while, they are bombarded from all directions—for better or for worse—by a din that sings of the hopelessness that everything is too much, too complicated, and too specialized, so that it has become completely crazy and incomprehensible. But from afar, the wild chants of the aggrieved tenants can already be heard drawing nearer. 
 
In Germany, ten million households—both renters and homeowners—are connected to district heating or are supplied with heat through heat contracting by external service providers. Our landlord, the state-owned housing association GEWOBAG, demanded several thousand euros in back payments for 2022 for the heat supplied by GASAG Solution Plus GmbH. This demand exceeded the actual increases in gas prices many times over. For us, this crossed a red line. So we set out: to the boiler room, to counseling centers, government agencies, experts, political parties, and lawmakers, to shed light on the matter. 

Libretto and Direction: Dirk Cieslak 
Musical Direction/Composition: Santiago Blaum
Music and Composition Collaboration: Eurico Ferreira Mathias
Performer: Hauke Heumann 
Set design: Johannes Maas
Costumes: Kallia Kefala
Video: Kai Wedo Meyer
Assistant: Jorinde Minna Markert
Production Manager: Annett Hardegen 

A Vielfalt Berlin production as part of the BLOCK by Vierte Welt series. 
Funded by the Capital City Cultural Fund