Die Hölle auf Erden - Introduction at 7 p.m.

An apocalyptic comedy by Maria Lazar

The world on the brink of another world war. The League of Nations in hopeless disarray. "Help us, God!" reads a newspaper ad. God sends Peter. Can he save the world? A wildly absurd drama from the 1930s.

It is the 760,839,000th anniversary of the creation of the world. But God has had enough of humanity - people do nothing but quarrel. Then a newspaper ad appears, placed by the League of Nations, seeking a new and kindly God. Reluctantly, God dispatches Peter and two angels to Geneva. But even divine envoys struggle without authority and without a valid passport. A colourful comedy of errors ensues.

The long-forgotten Viennese writer Maria Lazar (1895-1948) wrote Die Hölle auf Erden in the 1930s. Rediscovered in 2022, the play had its world premiere in September 2024. This end-of-the-world comedy hits uncomfortably close to home - especially right now.