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BIRTE GIESLER Sabbath candles is staged. However, in the course of the shared meal the sacral rituality gets successively destroyed as Felix answers the telephone. Not only does the family have an argument, but since picking up the phone on the Sabbath is against the ritualistic rules, the situation gradually escalates because, starting with the telephone call, the family members learn things about each other and about themselves they had not previously known or were not allowed to talk about. The conversation develops into a forum characterised by the search for truth when the father, who is a biochemist of international reputation, tells his family about a unique experiment he conducted 24 years before. As a scientist he had aimed to answer the question of whether human good and evil is determined genetically or by other factors. For this reason he produced their twin sons by cloning, albeit illegally and without informing his wife. He claims that he grew one embryo from his own DNA whilst producing the second one by cloning the DNA of Adolf Hitler. Thereby, Theo’s grotesque narration of how he supposedly acquired Hitler’s DNA then plays a major role within the play. On top of his story about the clone experiment, Theo claims that Uschi suffered lethal genetic damage as an embryo which he had been able to remedy by means of genetic engineering. Having learned this crude news, mother and daughter start an aggressive argument which leads Ulla to disclose to Uschi that in fact Theo is not her biological father; a fact that she claims Theo had also known since the pregnancy. During the various horrendous revelations, the identities of the characters, as well as the image they used to have of themselves and their family members, get progressively destroyed, while the events turn increasingly verbally and finally physically violent. The dramatic plot plays through two alternative versions of the course of the evening. The first version leads the family members to kill one another until nobody except for the daughter is left. In the second version, which is much more extensively designed, the whole family survives except for Uschi who quietly commits suicide whilst Rudi, by armed force, makes Theo swear to renounce science. The play ends with a scene that obviously takes place before the family reunion starts. The mother is standing on the terrace in the dawn; obviously unsuspecting, she proudly holds a monologue about her famous husband and her talented children. Igor Bauersima produced and stage directed his play with the Hanover State Theater in 2002, combining traditional forms of theater making with cinematic and new media elements. As most of the actual story of futur de luxe takes place inside one room, Bauersima’s set was designed as a box on the stage, accessible from two sides. Each side has a terrace. On the walls are movable blinds and curtains to be opened and closed in different variations. 33 Special thanks to Igor Bauersima and the Hanover State Theater (Germany) for providing me with a video recording of Bauersima’s production for research purposes. + 184 +
