The government is on its last legs, the streets are in turmoil and behind the scenes the sparkling wine is warming up – *Putsch* serves up a rich medley of political satire with gusto: Klara is a successful stand-up comedian with her own TV show. But after making a controversial statement, her programme is cancelled and everything goes pear-shaped: the broadcaster’s decision is publicly interpreted as an act of censorship, and Klara becomes – rather against her will – an icon of freedom of expression overnight, supported by a wave of solidarity, media hype and political manoeuvring. Even the right-wing populist party UHD recognises the potential of this wave of outrage sweeping across the country and, together with Klara herself, exploits it unscrupulously to further its own rise to power. What ensues is a frenetic game of influence, interpretative supremacy and survival in the world of politics. Last season, a satire by Dietmar Jacobs, "Kalter weißer Mann", was already on tour in South Tyrol. Together with Alistair Beaton, he has written "Putsch", a madcap political thriller that dissects the mechanisms of power and ruthlessly highlights just how fragile democracy is when tempers flare, integrity is lacking and opportunism takes over.
Director: Jochen Schölch
Set design: Thomas Flach
Costumes: Cornelia Petz
Lighting: Martin Hermann
Musical preparation: Alan Sokol
With:
Oskar Falk, soldier and other roles: Michele Cuciuffo
General/make-up artist/talk show host and other roles: Anna Graenzer
Günter Feldmann/outraged citizen and other roles: Wowo Habdank
Klara: Ina Meling
Thorben Holzapfel/Chancellor Georg Kuhn and others: Hubert Schedlbauer
Melli/Helmar Heberl and others: Lea Luisa Schönhuber
With the support of: the Autonomous Province of Bolzano, the Cassa di Risparmio dell’Alto Adige Foundation. With the support of: Volksbank
In collaboration with “Bildungsausschüsse Südtirol, Bayern-Südtirol-Gesellschaft”.
Approach
From Merano railway station take the citybus lines no. 1 or no. 4 to the ‘Piazza Teatro’ bus stop. The theatre is situated at the Piazza Teatro in the city centre.