Staged Reading: Europe from the Edge

Europa, vom Rande aus (Europe, from the edge/its borders)
Dramatic reading in German

Nicoleta Esinencu – „FUCK YOU. Eu.ro.pa!“
Theater monolog translated from the Romanian by Helga Kopp, read by Janna Wagenbach.

Margareth Obexer – „Das Geisterschiff“
Theater play in German, staged by Jenke Nordalm with Janna Wagenbach and others.

With a moderated discussion by Jean-Baptiste Joly.

From an island in southern Italy to Moldavia: Two young authors, Margareth Obexer and Nicoleta Esinencu, present their newest theater plays „Das Geisterschiff“ and „FUCK YOU. Eu.ro.pa!”, published in the Reihe Literatur series of Edition Solitude. Both texts deal with current explosive topics about the borders of the European Union: Margareth Obexer writes about the drastic situation of refugees from Africa on their way to Europe and Nicoleta Esinencu’s text provoked a scandal in Romania in connection with the expansion of the European Union to Eastern Europe.

Margareth Obexer tells the story of a refugee ship that sank in 1996 off the coast of southern Italy. The death of the 283 African refugees was silenced for years. As the officials ignored information from fishermen, the legend of a ghost ship was created, only to be unearthed by an Italian journalist six years later.

As part of the younger generation of Moldavians, Nicoleta Esinencu settles a score with her country: between her childhood in the Soviet Union and a European future the country is preparing itself for. The vehement but humorous play full of frustration and love speaks of Eastern European adolescents, who – not only in former Eastern block countries – feel their hopes betrayed by a neo-liberal, profit oriented world.

Nicoleta Esinencu, born 1978 in Chisinau/Moldavia, is a dramaturg at the Eugène Ionesco Theater in Chisinau since 2002. She was a fellow at Akademie Schloss Solitude in 2003/2005.
Margareth Obexer, born 1970 in South Tyrol/Italy, lives in Berlin. She is an author of theater plays, radio plays and novellas and teaches play writing as a guest lecturer at the Universität der Künste in Berlin. She was a fellow at Akademie Schloss Solitude in 2004.

A cooperation of Akademie Schloss Solitude with the Literaturhaus Stuttgart.

Admission: 7 / 5 Euro
Tickets can be bought in a advance at the book store in the Literaturhaus (Tues-Fri 12-8pm, Sat 10am-4pm, Tel. 0711-284290-4) or at the evening box office.