UNDER ICE

Paul, a consultant in his mid-forties, is called for the tenth time, and then the gate closes, boarding completed. Paul hears his name again and again, he enjoys it. For a moment, he is not being efficient. He stands still. He freezes. He falls through the memories of his childhood, his victories and his defeats, his women, about whom he has only vague memories. His unfulfilled longings return with all their might. He could be a different person. But the next generation is already waiting for a moment of weakness, the end of his career.

"Then suddenly she turned away and slept, I stared at her, stared at the canal, cold, and it began to snow, suddenly a window opened, I heard screams, a man and a woman in a violent quarrel. Suddenly a cat flies out of the window, the man seizes the cat by the tail and hurls it through the high arch on the canal, the cat stretches out all four legs, fear in her face, tries to stop herself, but finds nothing to stop herself, no. It's so cold outside, it's snowing, it's freezing, everything slows down, the cat looks at me as if she's looking for help, I look back, I can not help you, I'm the same, and she's flying. Panic in the direction of the slowly approaching surface of the canal, strikes and freezes a few centimeters below the surface with the expression of horror, the most panicky fear and despair and remains lying, twitching a few more minutes or hours, I’m not sure, and she dies, I watch the cat, and she freezes, freezes in her death." (Announcement of the Schaubühne at Lehniner Platz, Berlin)