Class Register

The classroom is not only a flashpoint for social conflicts, it’s also a place that unearths even the deepest emotional scars. And it’s populated by a uniquely dissonant mix of truants and geniuses, suicidal teens and anorexics, activists and computer nerds, self-promoters and those that are invisible. Each of the nine teenagers populating this play lives in their own thoughts, in their own emotional universe. The virtual world promises them more freedom than dealing with their real-world classmates. It’s only when their class teacher disappears that the blanket of isolation is quickly pulled away; the splintered stories focus on the empty space that’s been created.

«Among John von Düffel’s strengths are his special talents for the narrative power of speech and the effects produced by language ... His characters are constructed to resemble picture puzzles. Not only does tilting them often produce an effect but each impression they offer has its own special attraction.» (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung)

«Düffel does not show up his characters as ridiculous, instead depicting them as multi-faceted in their otherness. He presents the divergence between the consciousnesses of adulthood and youth as a huge hole filled with yearning.» (Süddeutsche Zeitung)