Terror

Major Lars Loch, the pilot of a Euro Jetfighter in the German armed forces, had to make a judgment. Had he made the right decision on that day when he got the order to change the flight path of a Lufthansa-Airbus in the hands of terrorists? 164 people were on board flight LH 2047 from Berlin Tegel to Munich. The plane now was turning toward the Alliance Arena. That evening there would be a capacity crowd of  70,000 fans watching the Germany-England match. Major Lars had to do something.

What were his orders? Should he (could he?) shoot down the passenger plane if the terrorists pressed on? Time went on and Lars Koch took a decision. Ferdinand von Schirach asked in his first play about the dignity of Man. Should a life for a life be weighed up, if so in what measure? What grounds can there be to ward off one disaster in favour of another supposedly less terrible one? And who would be responsible? The judges would have to decide.

Von Shirach, in his play »Terror« (which was performed simultaneously in Berlin and Frankfurt for the first time during the 2015/2016 season) gives the audience the responsibility of deciding as if they were jurors, such that the verdict varies between different audiences.

Ferdinand von Schirach (*1964) practises as a defence lawyer in Berlin. Right at the start in 2009 with »Crimes« he broke through as a literary author and his short stories were successfully filmed by ZDF. In his first play »Terror« von Shirach had a go at nothing less than Article 1 of the Constitution, and Article 2 of the Austrian Federal Constitution: »The Dignity of Man is sacrosanct«.

Dedi Baron was born in Tel Aviv and studied theatre direction there. Having a scholarship from the British Embassy and the Goethe Institute she travelled between London and Berlin.  Since the late 1990’s Dedi Baron has been directing continually in the main theatres in Tel Aviv, Habima and Cameri. When in Germany, she works variously with the Berlin Schaubühne, the Düsseldorf Schauspielhaus, and the Kiel theatre.

The following link shows all verdicts so far. Including at other theatres: http://terror.theater/

Duration: approx. 2 hours 30 mins / incl. intermission

UNTERRICHTSMATERIAL "TERROR"