About the work
Altbau in zentraler Lage. Eine Schaueroper (A Period Apartment, Centrally Located. A Horror Opera) is a play by Raphaela Bardutzky, a commissioned work of Schauspiel Leipzig, premiered there on 22 November 2024 directed by Salome Schneebeli — performed with German Sign Language. In 2025 it was invited to the 50th Mülheimer Theatertage, Bardutzky's first nomination.
Plot
At its core lies the struggle for affordable housing: real-estate speculators push the precariously employed young Zoey out of her old-building flat; the historic structure is to be demolished and replaced by expensive new builds. Yet Bardutzky tells this everyday housing-market crisis not as a hard-hitting social drama but as a "horror opera": malevolent ghosts appear, music becomes a weapon. Against their acoustic attacks Zoey defends herself with loud techno — much to the dismay of her deaf neighbour Trisha, who cannot hear the ghost-music but does feel the bass next door at night. From the collision of spoken language and German Sign Language the play develops its real theme: understanding.
Cultural significance
Altbau in zentraler Lage blends the aesthetics of the ghost story, the dime novel and club culture and brings spoken German and German Sign Language onto one stage as equals — the author developed the dialogue scenes with the deaf actress Athena Lange. The play thus addresses not only housing shortage and gentrification but also audism, the discrimination against deaf people, and the relationship between language and power. It is regarded as an unusually successful example of inclusive theatre.