“Secret Plan for Germany”: Prize for “Correctiv” play about Potsdam meeting

2024-03-25 06:53:52

Culture “Secret Plan for Germany”

Prize for “Correctiv” play about Potsdam meetings

As of: 8:13 a.m. | Reading time: 2 minutes

View of a guesthouse in Potsdam where AfD politicians are said to have taken part in a meeting in November, according to a report by “Correctiv”.

Source: dpa/Jens Kalaene

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The revelations about a meeting in Potsdam with an alleged right-wing extremist background triggered a wave of protests across the country. The “Correctiv” research also came to the stage – and is now being awarded an award. Among other things, the piece’s “subtle irony” is praised.

The authors Lolita Lax and Jean Peters are honored with a prize for “Secret Plan for Germany”. The play was based on a “Correctiv” report about a Potsdam meeting of financiers, right-wing extremists and politicians from the AfD and the Union of Values.

For their work, they will receive the private Jürgen Bansemer & Ute Nyssen Dramatist Prize 2024, worth 15,000 euros. “Last but not least, the subtle irony with which the authors expose some guests in their theatrical role play between brazen right-wing extremist activists and well-behaved stage characters turns the text into a play of the hour,” said co-juror and theater publisher Ute Nyssen in Cologne. “We all (…) have to ask ourselves whether we have looked away too often.”

Despite an overall relaxed tone, the language conjures up “fears of real deportation”. The piece is “in the best Enlightenment tradition”. The prize will be awarded on May 10th at the Schauspiel Köln.

The privately funded prize is awarded annually

The director and artistic director of the Wiener Volkstheater Vienna, Kay Voges, brought the research of “Correctiv” to the stages on January 17th as a co-production with the Berliner Ensemble and the Volkstheater – just a week after the revelations.

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During the staged reading, the editorial team also published some newly presented details about the meeting in a Potsdam villa in November 2023. AfD officials as well as individual members of the CDU and the ultra-conservative Values ​​Union took part in the meeting. The “Correctiv” revelations resulted in a wave of nationwide demonstrations, but also various legal disputes because participants in the event did not want to accept the depictions and their interpretation. WELT had reported several times.

Previous winners of the dramatist prize have included Wolfram Lotz, Juli Zeh and René Pollesch. The privately funded prize is awarded annually. The aim is to pave the way for already performed playwrights to further professional experiments.