cultural corona backlash GERMAN THEATER EDITION
lars eidinger does a one man performance piece called Quarantäne II in which he locks himself in a glass box on the Schaubühne stage for an unlimited amount of time. there’s a live stream and time slot tickets that are immediately sold out. the programmheft calls it “eine Erforschung.” (essential full stop right there). nachtkritik writes “eine erfahrung zwischen virilität und virologie”. every 2 hours lars recites brand names for ten minutes to generate some revenue for the dying german theatre scene, but it’s also, like, an anticapitalist statement. he eats some klopapier for breakfast and sometimes he masturbates (but only after 22 Uhr because Jugendschutz). he gets his only nourishment from licking the stage and the occasional slice of fleischwurst that a stage hand slides under his glass door. it’s an immediate hit and lasts for 2 weeks total before lars collapses naked and famished. nachtkritik calls him “the male marina abramovic”. afterwards, someone asks lars what he thinks about the discrepancy between classic drama and performance art and he pretends not to understand the question.