Driving Miss Daisy

A play by Alfred Uhry

Nominated for the INTHEGA Prize DIE NEUBERIN 2023. Ron Williams is recipient of the INTHEGA Award 2024. Doris Kunstmann is recipient of the INTHEGA Award 2012.

"… the good Lord gave a lemon more sense than you …" Atlanta, Georgia, 1948: Miss Daisy is a 72-year-old retired schoolteacher. After she causes a car accident one day, her son Boolie buys her a new car and hires a Black chauffeur, Hoke Colburn, to drive her. Hoke, himself 60 years old, is a calm, wise man and the ideal counterpart to the egocentric Miss Daisy, who stubbornly refuses to use his services. With patience and unaffected by the old lady's occasional unkind remarks, Hoke eventually manages to get Miss Daisy into the car, and gradually, during their shared drives, a respectful affection develops between the mismatched pair.

What initially has the charm of a tale of taming a willful woman evolves into a play of substance and subtle undertones, without fully resolving the interplay of closeness and distance between the two main characters. The real historical setting itself provides ample tension - the two protagonists come from worlds that could hardly be more different: here a wealthy, educated Jewish Southern lady, there a Black working-class employee in an era when racial segregation in the United States almost naturally defined people's daily lives.

Cast: Doris Kunstmann, Ron Williams, Hans Machowiak
Directed by: Frank Matthus
Theatre: Tournee-Theater THESPISKARREN

Photo: Dietrich Dettmann