Etwas Besseres als den Tod finden wir überall

A Singspiel by Martin Heckmanns (text) and Masha Qrella (music)

As in the Brothers Grimm fairy tale, a donkey, a dog, a cat and a hen form a band - because: "Whoever sings is not dead." Unlike the Bremen Town Musicians, though, these four quit their oppressors themselves: Donkey Grey has toiled to exhaustion long enough, Dog Clever refuses to guard his employer's wealth on a chain any longer, Hen Commun barely escapes factory farming with her last strength, and Cat Black is pulled from the sea pregnant and half-dead. Together they dare to rise up for a world built on solidarity.

Along the way they encounter the landowners they fled. Mr and Mrs von zur Mühlen, trembling for their wealth, are struck in a dream by a terrible realisation: "We are the robbers in this story."

Martin Heckmanns' play was a finalist for the Mülheimer Dramatikpreis 2023. Following its premiere in Kassel, Friederike Heller's production is now on tour. Musician Masha Qrella accompanies the quartet live; singing and acting merge into a Singspiel that asks what the foundations of our life together really are. Whether "something better" can actually be found in the end - the text deliberately leaves that open.

With: Jakob Benkhofer, Clemens Dönicke, Katharina Brehl, Zazie Cayla, Lisa Natalie Arnold, Hagen Oechel and others
Live music: Masha Qrella and Andreas Bonkowski
Direction: Friederike Heller
Set and costumes: Sabine Kohlstedt