About the work
“Sabotage” is a comedy by the writer and director Yael Ronen. She staged it herself; the premiere took place on 4 December 2025 in Saal B of the Schaubühne am Lehniner Platz in Berlin, with Dimitrij Schaad, Carolin Haupt, Eva Meckbach and Konrad Singer. It is performed in a German version by Irina Szodruch.
Plot
The Jewish documentary filmmaker Jona Lubnik, so far not very successful, wants to make a film about the Israeli philosopher Yeshayahu Leibowitz, a sharp critic of Israel’s occupation policy. His wife, an ambitious neurologist, fears the project could damage her career and suspects sabotage. The couple’s conflicts end up in therapy sessions, while the therapist’s brother begins to hallucinate after a stroke. In the end Jona gets his film made, and Leibowitz himself speaks in documentary fragments.
Cultural significance
The play examines how Jews and non-Jewish Germans deal with one another and with criticism of Israel in the shadow of the Gaza war. Critics were divided: they praised the punchlines and Dimitrij Schaad’s performance but faulted the abundance of subplots.