(Berggrün) oder Der Turnaround

(Berggrün) oder Der Turnaround

Deutsch
Cast

1F / 1M / 3 additional actors

Department stores were once the cathedrals of consumerism. But the faithful had already started to stay away before the financial crisis, buying online or not buying at all. Retailers are desperate for a messiah to rejuvenate their product offerings and stores. Finally, he seems to have arrived in the persona of Berggrün, a rich, young and attractive global player. Full of motivation, he announces The Turnaround, and boasts of new concepts and rules. But the miracles fail to materialise. Instead, jobs are to be shed and branches closed.

Based on recent events, this play is as finely structured as a Bach oratorio yet also provides plenty of laughs. It features a nameless “I” – a single mother and customer who is in the store so often that it seems like a second home to her – amongst a choir of disparate voices, including salespeople, managers and investors. The various desires and aims aren’t always compatible with one another. Increasingly isolated and manic, “I” pins all her hopes on Berggrün’s promises of salvation, leaving her lonelier than ever at the end of the play.

(Berggrün) or The Turnaround is a subversive genre painting depicting the present day in which economy and finance have long since become religions in their own right, and which have scant regard for human needs.