Rainer Merkel's first play is set in the West African nation of Sierra Leone, a country marked by years of civil war. The play offers no portrait of misery, but instead develops a strikingly precise depiction of the microcosm of an aid organisation on the ground. This branch office is being toured and inspected by the chairman of the board. Pressure to justify their work sets in. The members of the NGO "Everyday Gandhi" all surely want to help — but they also have no intention of losing their jobs. Their often grotesquely comic oscillation between idealism and cynicism feels alarmingly believable and relatable. From a dense web of dependencies and relationships, an increasingly clear diagnosis emerges about ideology, colonialism, the "intoxication of helping", and a white world that apparently needs the "Other" more than the "Others" need the whites.
"(...) the Staatstheater Darmstadt and director David Stöhr have nevertheless outwitted the restrictions (...)." Frankfurter Rundschau
"David Stöhr cleverly makes compromises to do so, and — like the six ensemble members Ernest Allan Hausmann, Gabriele Drechsel, Ulrike Fischer, Thorsten Loeb, Murat Seven and Mathias Znidarec — is therefore rightly celebrated by the premiere audience." Die Deutsche Bühne
Staatstheater Darmstadt
Director: David Stöhr
Programme and tickets: https://www.staatstheater-darmstadt.de/veranstaltungen/lauf-und-bring-uns-dein-nacktes-leben.766/