Kalter weißer Mann - Comedy by Dietmar Jacobs and Moritz Netenjakob

A production by Euro-Studio Landgraf
with Timothy Peach, Nicola Tiggeler, Sophie Göbel, Peer-Robin Hagel,
Andreas Windhuis and Tima Herz

A death, a funeral, a pastor, a grieving congregation. The farewell for Gernot Steinfels - 94-year-old patriarch of a mid-sized German company who passed away peacefully - could have gone smoothly. Could have...

The incoming managing director, Horst Bohne, arranges the funeral on behalf of the company and orders, among other things, a wreath with a mourning ribbon in the name of all employees. He has no idea what trouble the ribbon's inscription will cause: "In deep mourning. Your employees" - written in the masculine generic form.

When the staff spot the ribbon just before the ceremony begins, his female colleagues are visibly irritated. Why not "... and female employees" too? Or a gender-neutral form? The grieving party - led by the future boss - lurches from one linguistic blunder to the next, setting off a micro-aggressive cultural debate about gender, sexism and political correctness.

© Photo: Franziska Strauss