Verkrabbung

Blinding light, an almost unbearable droning, then the image draws together: the world, it’s burning. No, it has burned. Now the embers still glow on the last remnants of nature, on the last remnants of civilization, on the last remnants of the world, which is sometimes so frightening small.

A couple in love, mid to late 20s. Lulu and Silas have saved themselves on the beach. They don’t know who else is still alive, or how survival in this world might be possible. While Lulu tries to understand the reasons for the fire and to keep alive the memories of the old world, Silas focuses on looking ahead. Meanwhile, Pastor Schilling and Professor Ackermann struggle over who gets to define the meaning of this catastrophe. Two answers present themselves: an afterlife in heaven, or crabification, leaving the human body behind to live on in the sea. Caught between hope and self-preservation, Lulu and Silas are forced to act, as the question presses in: what does it mean to be human, and what price would one be willing to pay for one’s own survival? A staged reading by Paula Regine Erb in German.