Sebastian Rüger - Soloprogramm: „Hätt´ ich doch ´ne Diagnose!“

If there is a “self,” did it already have problems before birth? Being born without being asked raises epic questions: “Huh?!” Or “What now?!” What exactly do I have, anyway? Am I just normally confused, or am I already sick? And given how crazy the world is, what’s the deal with this “normality” anyway? Can you even claim it on your health insurance?

When Sebastian Rüger isn’t, for once, playing Dieter Nuhr on Jan Böhmermann’s show, he’s been, for nearly 25 years, one half of Germany’s most unique, award-sweeping absurdist duo, Ulan & Bator (they’re the ones with the bobble hats). In his first solo show, things get a bit more personal—though no less colorful, confusing, or funny.

Together with the audience, Sebastian Rüger embarks on an expedition into the realm of misunderstandings between being, the world, and everything else. Varied and entertaining, armed with both an irrepressible joy of performance and a keen sensitivity to the subject matter, he explores whether he’s asking himself too many questions or too few, whether he’s understood everything or nothing, whether he’s half-autistic or a total asshole, unrecognized as highly gifted or obviously stupid—or all of the above at once? And last but not least: Do others feel the same way? He’s brought his drum set along, too—maybe there’ll even be an encore with a guest musician; we’ll see. A sea of possibilities. Wonderfully maddening.