At the Holiday Camp

A farm in the outskirts of Mannheim: Here, young people spend their holidays under the auspices of an esoteric community. An herbalist introduces them to the local botany, in craft lessons they craft masks representing the stages of human development according to the "root theory" and with the choirmaster they sing about peace between the nations. However, once the choirmaster has to leave the camp "to preserve the peace of the community", her successor starts raising concerns within the group. She makes the acquaintance of a journalist who in vain tries to gain insights into the institution, and the only working-class child among the otherwise middle-class youngsters confides in her about the harassment he endures there. One evening, it all comes to a head when a mutilated corpse is discovered in the nearby woods. Rumours and speculation about the origins of the victim and the perpetrator begin to circulate, and the members of the community unveil their racist and xenophobic resentments once and for all.
Olga Bach's new play centres around the reproduction and reinforcement of discriminatory stereotypes among closed groups and the manner in which young people are moulded into perpetrators. Inevitably, this leads to an interrogation of our present day, in which these grievances are frighteningly often prematurely considered surpassed.