About the work
“fünf minuten stille” (five minutes of silence) is a play by the actor and playwright Leo Meier for three performers, whose cast list also includes a zombie; it is published by S. Fischer Verlag. It premiered in October 2024 at the Münchner Volkstheater, where four members of the ensemble, Liv Stapelfeldt, Anne Stein, Jan Meeno Jürgens and Steffen Link, developed the production together without a separate director. The text combines traits of the Theatre of the Absurd with the pace of comedy.
Plot
Three strangers come together to spend five minutes in silence with the audience, listening only to the wind, the birds and their own heartbeats. No sooner is the pause agreed than they keep talking, defending opinions and positions and dragging all the noise of everyday life into the room. When it turns out that the door is locked and no key can be found, their clashing ways of life collide ever more fiercely. Against the backdrop of the climate crisis and a fraying society, the play leaves open whether the three can still reach an understanding and whether poetry offers a way out.
Cultural significance
The Munich premiere was well received by critics, including those of the Süddeutsche Zeitung and the Donaukurier. Within two seasons the play was taken up by many other stages, among them in Leipzig, Aachen, Frankfurt am Main, Osnabrück, Freiburg and at Deutsches Theater Berlin; an independent production in Cologne was nominated for the Kölner Theaterpreis 2025.