Empty Hell: Challenging Germany's Cultural Narrative of Memory
Alexander Cocotas and Fabio Thieme are tired of the Holocaust schtick on stage. Pals for years, Cocotas - a Jewish writer whose popular essays mock Germany's fixation with Jews - and Thieme - an up-and-coming Berlin film and theater director - have spent the last three years crafting a mad tale of two grifters jetting across Poland, tackling the sanctimony and profiteering of post-war memory culture in a way that's actually authentic.
Their production, Die Hölle ist Leer ("Hell is Empty"), premieres at HfS Ernst Busch Theatre this month. The duo chatted with our site about their strategy for tackling the weighty topic of post-war German identity with a touch of comedy and critique.
What's your take on your play fitting into Berlin's theatrical landscape?
FT: It was crucial for us that this debut is happening in Berlin and contemporary Germany because it's all about Germany. In the three years we spent on it, so much happened that really landed in our lap - the situation we were addressing became much more serious and real, especially now with the election. The right is gaining ground in this country, and it's worse than I'd have imagined three years ago.
We wanted to use humor as a sneaky weapon to shatter people's expectations.
AC: We were also reacting both positively and negatively to what we've seen on the stage in recent years in Berlin, wanting to create something that better reflected our sensibilities. Something not so heavy and preachy. We wanted humor as a subversive weapon to shock people and make them think.
How did you pull this off as a team?
AC: The writing really kicked off in spring 2024. That's when Fabio hatched the opening scene, featuring Stahl - Friedrich Stahl, the grandson of a famous Nazi perpetrator who ran a concentration camp in what is now Poland - delivering a monologue inside a trunk before emerging onto the stage. That was when the writing truly began.
Over the next couple of months, we exchanged ideas. Initially, we related to distinct characters in the play: Fabio was Stahl and I was Christian Boczek, the young Polish-German journalist. We wrote scenes where one character or the other was dominant. By summertime, we had a draft of the script, which we tested with a circle of friends in my apartment. We got a lot of useful feedback, but it was also a process of discovering what works and what doesn't on a stage.
FT: We initially tried to write together, drinking beer in a bar in Neukölln. I don't know why we thought it would work, but it didn't. And then it really started when we just sat down, suffering, and writing on our own. We sent each other what we wrote, ripping each other off and advancing jokes in subsequent scenes. I thought it was a lovely process.
AC: The trunk, for instance, transformed into a central motif recurring throughout the entire play. The stage, from what I understand, will be filled with trunks. Mirrors also became a motif we hadn't foreseen. The whole play takes place between a mirror and a trunk on some level - they became symbols of identity, something hidden and something reflecting yourself.
- Die Hölle ist Leer, Mar 22 - 25, HfS Ernst Busch, Zinnowitzer Str. 11, Mitte, in German with an English translation provided, more details.
In post-war German identity theater, productions often focus on themes like guilt, reconciliation, identity formation, and the search for a new sense of national belonging. These plays could delve into historical events, examine the individual's struggle with their German identity, or explore reconciliation and forgiveness. Berlin, as a city symbolizing both historical trauma and modern cultural diversity, might be used as a setting. If "Die Hölle ist Leer" covers these themes, it could contribute to ongoing discourse about post-war German identity, offering a unique viewpoint via its storyline and characters. But without specific details about the play's content, it's challenging to pinpoint precisely how it handles these issues.
- Alexander Cocotas and Fabio Thieme, in their upcoming play "Die Hölle ist Leer," aim to tackle post-war German identity with a touch of comedy and critique, moving away from the heavy and preachy theatrical landscape of Berlin.
- In creating their play, Cocotas and Thieme incorporated symbolic elements such as trunks and mirrors, which they believe reflect hidden identities and serve as symbols of self-reflection, offering a unique perspective on post-war German identity.
