Johann Holtrop

In the organizer's words:

2 hours 10 minutes - No break
Visionary, careerist, bluffer, people catcher, manic narcissist, a Machiavellian doer, stand-up guy, capitalism's lucky kid, decision hysteric, rock star: Johann Holtrop, 48, is many things. But above all, he is the CEO of Assperg, a media group with headquarters in Schönhausen and a subsidiary Arrow PC in Krölpa, Thuringia, 80,000 employees worldwide and total assets of 15 billion euros. In the mutual disdain of the office workers, tolerance of each other seems to be the lowest common denominator. Because everyone is interchangeable. Holtrop lives under the delusion of the absolute present; his ego and charisma crush everything that stands in his way. Until his steep career, which has parallels to the Thomas Middelhoff case, begins to falter and comes to an abrupt end.
Visionary, careerist, bluffer, people catcher, manic narcissist, Machiavellian go-getter, jack-of-all-trades, capitalism's child of fortune, decision hysteric, rock star: Johann Holtrop, 48, is many things. But above all, he is the CEO of Assperg, a media group with headquarters in Schönhausen and a subsidiary Arrow PC in Krölpa, Thuringia, 80,000 employees worldwide and total assets of 15 billion euros. In the mutual disdain of the office workers, tolerance of each other seems to be the lowest common denominator. Because everyone is interchangeable. Holtrop lives under the delusion of the absolute present; his ego and charisma crush everything that stands in his way. Until the steep career, which has parallels to the case of Thomas Middelhoff, falters and comes to an abrupt end. In his novel, published in 2012, Rainald Goetz tells in typically hyperrealistic language about the demolition of society, about the rise and fall of a manager, about political upheavals of the noughties, and last but not least something about leadership and power dynamics. In 2023, Stefan Bachmann's production JOHANN HOLTROP was invited to the Autor*innentheatertage at the Deutsches Theater Berlin. We are also pleased to announce that Stefan Bachmann has been nominated for this year's theater award "Der Faust" in the category staging drama for JOHANN HOLTROP! Nominated for the theater award "Der Faust" 2023 - Invited to the Autor*innentheatertage 2023 Making Of PRESS REVIEWS "(...) the overwhelming ensemble finds a lot of subtleties, punchlines, interesting details. One notices that two great theaters have joined forces here. Thus, >Abruch der Gesellschaft< is an aesthetic delight and seems almost comforting in view of the many current crises." THEATER DER ZEIT "Goetz had watched and listened as his work was congenially maltreated, according to the logic of capitalist exploitation and multiplication. The novel's prose is celebrated in literal recitation as a premium product and at the same time subjected to the primacy of rhythm. The result is immensely entertaining, a slap in the face and triumph of sound." FAZ "The eight-member ensemble embodies more than 20 characters and masters one mountain of text after another with fascinating ease. While Melanie Kretschmann plays Johann Holtrop alone, all the others slip into different roles - and deliver cabinet pieces in rows." KÖLNISCHE RUNDSCHAU This content has been machine translated.