Die eine und die andere

Insa and Lissie, both in their 60s, are "enemies for life". Twice already Lissie has stolen Insa's man, the last one was Henrik thirty years ago, and both women have a child with him. By now they live alone, Insa in her Hotel in Oderbruch without guests, Lissie is a freelance reviewer of Architecture. When Lissie's job at the radio is cut, she seeks refuge with Insa, of all people. While the two women are prolonging their age-old antagonism with fireworks of subtle insults, the children are getting involved in a strange love story. "As usual, Botho Strauss will-o' wisps with Die Eine und die Andere through past and future, art and life, love and chitchat - dreamfully elusive, metaphysically charged phrases float through the text like fireflies, turbulences of language create mischief ... Strauss reports from the undergrowth, where aging lives who know themselves all too well get ensnarled, lives that are past their promises, but where the old impulses and instincts are still at work.» (Frankfurter Rundschau)