About the work
“Showtime (ein enttäuschender Abend)” (roughly “Showtime – a disappointing evening”) is a monologue for a single performer by Felix Krakau, written on commission from the Staatstheater Darmstadt. It premiered there on 6 March 2022, directed by the author and performed by Hans-Christian Hegewald. The performance rights are handled by Rowohlt Theater Verlag.
Plot
Just before curtain-up everything goes wrong: the cast is stuck in traffic, the orchestra is on strike and the set collapses, yet the audience is already in their seats. The rescue is supposed to come from David, an all-round actor who claims to have fifty classical and fifty modern monologues plus songs at his fingertips. The stopgap turns into an increasingly personal performance in which David talks about the defeats he has suffered, his craving for recognition and an unforgiving theatre business, while refusing to give up hope.
Cultural significance
After its premiere the monologue was taken up by further theatres, including stages in Osnabrück, Essen and Leipzig. Critics of the Darmstadt premiere compared it with solo plays such as Patrick Süskind’s “The Double Bass” and described it as an enjoyable comedy about the arts world that is nevertheless more than lightweight.