About the work
Lonely Hearts is a devised theatre project by director Anja M. Wohlfahrt and DT Jung*. It premiered at Deutsches Theater Berlin on 6 March 2026. The production is explicitly participatory and was developed with six Berlin residents of different ages described by the theatre as specialists in loneliness through their professional or personal experience. It is a collectively devised piece without a single conventional author.
Plot
The work begins with the question of how loneliness is produced and experienced in a highly connected society. It explores different life stages and social conditions, relationships between loneliness, money and opportunities for participation, and the effects of contemporary forms of communication. Instead of constructing a closed fictional plot, it works with the experiences of its participants. The stage becomes a shared investigation into the roots, manifestations and possible ways out of loneliness.
Cultural significance
Lonely Hearts is representative of contemporary participatory theatre in which people directly affected by a social issue are involved in creating its theatrical representation. Critical responses highlighted the combination of humour, emotional openness and social analysis. The production is particularly relevant for framing loneliness not merely as an individual psychological condition but as a phenomenon connected to social participation, economics and communication.