Pension Schöller
Creators: name: Höhne, Jacob
Publisher: name: DARIAH-DE
Year: 2023
Subjects: Curiosity
Udo Jürgens
Berlin
Emancipation
Schlager
Madness

description: Abstract: 
The performance covers the story of a guest house in Berlin that a petit-bourgeoise man visits. He wants to experience the madness of Berlin and offers his nephew to finance his studies if he shows his uncle the crazy people of Berlin. 

Details: 
Eugenia works at her father’s guest house but wishes to be admitted to the drama academy, even though she has trouble speaking. She studies her lines eagerly and recites various theatre classics; meanwhile, she cleans up the chairs and tables in the dining room. Eugenia plays Gretchen from Faust while a man is showering behind her in a cabin. Suddenly, she gets interrupted by broomsticks thrown in her way by her father, the owner of the guest house, Schöller. He wants Eugenia to be productive as new guests are arriving. The first one to come is a writer who can be heard from afar, mainly because of her loud speaking voice. She calls herself an artist and shouts, “My readers love me.” This impresses Eugenia, who wants to embark on an artistic life herself. However, the two women are quickly interrupted in their discussion about children and a life led by art by the general, who asks Eugenia about today’s politics, like women being president or minister of defence. The so-called Mr. Major is stuck in the past; he gives the Hitler salute and shouts through the boarding house, “Heil Hitler,” even though Eugenia reminds him that “the times have changed.” “So, women now have the power in the military and alcohol,” states the general as he gets served apricot brandy from Eugenia’s cut-out. Throughout the play, a musician performs various songs from the German Schlager star Udo Jürgens on a keyboard. The musician takes song requests, which waitress Eugenia passes on to him. 
In this grotesque scenery, a nephew welcomes his uncle, Philipp Klapproth, who has travelled for the first time to Berlin to see a psychiatric clinic from the inside. His student-nephew wants to show him mad people and hopes to get financial support from his curious uncle. As soon as he enters the guest house, Schöller, Klapproth, gets to know the owner, Mr. Schöller. He has hired strippers who perform a pole dance in the middle of the dining room. Furthermore, Klapproth gets to know the other guests, like the screaming writer Sybille and the retired general who wants to leave the guest house with his exclamation, “This is worse than the trenches.” After the general performed a version of the classic “Griechischer Wein,” here,” Sächsischer Wein,” the professor enters the dining hall. He describes himself as an animal catcher and world traveller who loves hunting lions, preferably males. The professor flirts with Klapproth, who does not understand the attempts. “He finds all people crazy who are not like him,” his nephew observes. While Eugenia takes care of the cleanliness of the tables and recites plays again, the student gets into the recitation of Romeo and Juliet and plays Eugenia’s naked Romeo; he was recently leaving the shower. As the professor unintentionally lights up his suitcase filled with gun munition, the guests’ house is in great turmoil. As red mist envelops the stage and the guests, Eugenia and her father, slowly circle Klapproth, he seems to be transformed into one of them. He is put on a table, and Eugenia asks, “Why do you think your mother gave birth to you?”. Suddenly, “Give me your fear” is played. However, the Schlager song is interrupted by Klapproth, who has had enough, “You are all out of your minds.” He sits alone in the dining hall with a bloodstained sex doll on his lap. He philosophises conservatively about daily politics in Germany, such as family reunification and crime. The petit-bourgeoise man has seen enough and wants to return to his home city.