INTRODUCTION

The theatrical form Groupe Merci has long been interested in “hunts down” any chance to deal with politics: Désobéissance (2008), Génie du proxénétisme (2010), À notre chère disparue, la Démocratie (2011).
We go on a quest for forms that are still able to tackle the sensitive issue of “political temporizing.” For we notice our democratic institutions settle for “general consensus” while derealization is at work.
It is thus the duty of theatre to account for that “system-inherent catastrophe”, to use playwright Falk Richter’s formula. 
So, thanks to Richter, who addresses the contemporary “Woyzecks” living before our eyes in a worn-out world and in a perpetual state of decompensation, we will exhibit new contemporary figures, their distress and inner collapses.
Exhibit their mental breakdown.

Joël FESEL

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Stage Director’s Statement

Falk Richter’s play is a radiography of today’s psyches scrutinized with a magnifying glass.

You’ll see fragmented identities and their vain attempts at putting their scattered bits together (so high the depersonalization risk);
You’ll see loss of confidence;
You’ll see fear for the future (since everything is insecure—take for instance the collapsing value of money);
You’ll see that fear to lose that value, namely (since today the Market has become the ultimate benchmark);
You’ll see the fear of being nothing (pressured as we are to “be ourselves, fulfill ourselves and find our path in life”, to “earn a living” in spite of the difficulty of living an “efficient” life);
You’ll see the fear of not being on top of one’s game (the bar is set so high);
You’ll see fear for freedom: since everything seems possible choosing becomes impossible (all the more so as economic warfare is getting tougher);
You’ll see the paradoxical anxiety of being left without a God, a master, or any third party (where is authority?);
You’ll see loss of sex drive (we dream of absoluteness so much);
You’ll see their deceiving dreams (becoming an icon, a star, an image) to be one of those who succeed under the limelight;
You’ll see extreme loneliness;
You’ll see their regressive narcissism, which led them to turn back the hands of time to return to the times before they were even born, at the risk of disappearing;
You’ll see extreme loneliness…

Solange OSWALD

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Excerpt

I’M LIKE MONEY
“I HAVE NOTHING TO GO ON, I just don’t, I’M LIKE MONEY damn, I’m like money, I’m everything and everywhere and no one can gauge my value and every day you have to check if I’m still worth something because it changes every day, my worth, my relationship to other people, and I’m in constant danger of becoming worthless over night, I’m in constant danger of collapsing, I’M LIKE MONEY, everyone wants me and lots of it but I don’t manage to make anyone happy even if that’s what they think, and I can go anywhere, I can no longer gauge my value because there are no longer any guidelines, they’re in the process of disintegrating, I’M LIKE MONEY.”