About the work
Datterich is a local farce by the Darmstadt writer Ernst Elias Niebergall, written in South Hessian dialect. Niebergall completed it in 1841 but did not live to see it staged: the premiere took place only on 2 August 1862, in Bessungen, almost twenty years after his death.
Plot
The hard-drinking sponger Datterich, a former official dismissed for alcoholism, takes the naive journeyman Schmidt under his wing, promising to help him gain Darmstadt citizenship in exchange for money. He also tries to separate Schmidt from his beloved Marie Dummbach, but the scheme fails; an extortion attempt lands Datterich in jail, while Schmidt and Marie are reunited.
Cultural significance
Datterich is regarded as one of the best-known works of Darmstadt dialect theatre and has shaped numerous phrases still used in the city today. The Hessische Spielgemeinschaft has performed the play since 1925, in several hundred performances since.