Surely violence is present from the outset. Here at Baracke, we find a family play about family and Germany. The play “Baracke” follows a love story spanning thirty years. It crosses a generation.
Two people from Krölpa formed a couple. They were part of a young circle of friends born around 1977. Bea and Ramin were in love. But their love faded. Later, Bea got together with Uwe. Uwe belonged to their group. He opposed their parents’ generation. Uwe became radicalized. Bea had a child with Uwe. Together, they became a family.
Family connections reached West Germany. The three celebrated their wedding. They celebrated with their extended Munich family. Later, the family left Krölpa’s poor conditions. They moved to Weisser Hirsch. This was an exclusive residential area in Dresden. But the past became the present. The family failed. The father saw only one thing to do. He drew the final consequence.
The family’s truth involves violence. The play explores secrets and horror. Above all, there is the silence of fathers. It examines the omission of truth. It considers the torpor of mothers. These continue in the bodies of children. It passes from generation to generation.
Rainald Goetz is a shrewd chronicler. His machinery of thought guides us. He guides us through a museum of the 21st century. Analogies emerge with the right-wing NSU terror. The recent past and present merge. They concentrate into a radical excess of now. Goetz gives language to social consciousness. He uses delicate language and observation. He outlines images of an ambivalent present. He uses stream-like thought cascades. Thus, Baracke becomes a revolt. It is a revolt of speech against silence.
Claudia Bossard directed “Baracke”. The premiere was on September 22, 2023. The play lasts two hours and 25 minutes. There is no intermission. The play contains descriptions of violence. It depicts violence in society and family.
Elisabeth Weiss designed the stage. Andy Besuch designed the costumes. Annalena Fröhlich did the sound and video. Cornelia Gloth created the lighting. Daniel Richter was the dramaturge.
“Baracke” explores German family terror. It looks at stabil verrohte Sitten. All violence stems from the family. That is the core of Rainald Goetz’s play. The references are many. The show is great. The pose is right.
The play shows family pictures. These grow into pictures of Germany. They are night pieces of our becoming. Couples meet. They argue. They have children. The children annoy them. The men snap. The children get hit. The women tolerate it. The children snap. Gender and family arrangements run through the text. A cultural-historical firework ignites.
The play loosely refers to the NSU terror cell. Its origins lie in problem families. It also lies in the loss of the East German state. The NSU references remain nebulous. They are ultimately speculative.
Claudia Bossard’s production doubles the associative process. She adds references in her imagery. The author figure Goetz gets plenty of space. He has his legendary Bachmann Prize appearance. The couples come in neoclassical costumes. Others wear jogging pants or motorcycle gear. Different times but stable verrohte Sitten. Willy Brandt’s kneeling in Warsaw flickers. Honecker’s brotherly kiss with Breszhnev appears. Authoritarian rat catchers flicker too. Alice Weidel and Donald Trump also appear. Everything is lined up unbroken. It counts the glory of the great historical signs. It’s a bit like Checkpoint Charlie Museum.
The strength of this production lies in its protagonists. Mareike Beykirch has furious rave in her blood. She is wonderfully laconic in her dialogues. Jeremy Mockridge plays a hypersensitive softie. He is urkomisch in Spürterror-Ranwanzungen. Janek Maudrich is a blunt macker from the motorcycle gang. Bossard’s production indulges in postmodern Befindlichkeitskomödie.