Little Man – What Now?

In the midst of the Great Depression, clerk Johannes Pinneberg meets a young woman called Emma, nicknamed ‹Lambkin›. They get married and are expecting their first child when Pinneberg loses his job as a bookkeeper in the provinces. The couple move to Berlin, hoping there will be more work there. But inflation is rampant and there is mass unemployment; rents are going through the roof, food is expensive and Pinneberg, in his new job as a salesman in a department store, finds out just how fierce the competition is in the world of dog-eat-dog capitalism. As Pinneberg grows more and more desperate, Lambkin bravely defends her love for her husband against all adversities, and fights hard against their loss of social status.

‹The subject matter, in terms of society, politics and the economy, could hardly be more topical … Peter Raffalt’s stage adaptation of Hans Fallada’s classic novel alternates between narration and acting... The performance gradually builds; almost imperceptibly, the scenes coalesce to form a whole, and the play’s poignant and topical power is unquestionable.› (Schwäbische Zeitung)