About the work
ALPHA is a play for young audiences by the Hamburg playwright Lili Roesing, developed together with the director Margit Pötzsch as the sixth postgraduate project of Junges Schauspielhaus Hamburg. Launched in 2022, the programme gives graduates of the directing courses at the Hamburg University of Music and Theatre the chance to stage their own production for young people; it is run in cooperation with the Theaterakademie and funded by the Claussen-Simon-Stiftung. The world premiere is scheduled for 30 October 2026 in the Studio Wiesendamm, recommended for ages 13 and up.
Plot
At its centre is 15-year-old Leo, who is looking for something to hold on to between his parents’ separation and the end of his childhood. Through social media he comes across the so-called manosphere with its ideals of the “alpha male” and the “sigma boy” and is drawn in by its promises of self-optimisation. The play asks how images of masculinity and femininity are formed and what it costs to follow role models without questioning them.
Cultural significance
The play takes up the debate about the influence of online influencers on young men’s ideas of gender roles and deliberately approaches it from the perspective of several generations.