About the work
"Staubfrau" ("Dust Woman") is a commissioned work by the playwright Maria Milisavljević for Schauspielhaus Zürich, where it premiered on 11 January 2025 (directed by Anna Stiepani). The play addresses the subject of femicide and structural violence against women. In 2025 "Staubfrau" was awarded the prestigious Mülheim Dramatists' Prize (Mülheimer Dramatikpreis).
Plot
The play interweaves three women's biographies – daughter, mother and grandmother – and, along these life stories, recounts how society has changed over the decades and where deficits still persist. From the experiences of the three generations a picture of continuing violence against women emerges – up to and including rape and murder. Rather than a single case, "Staubfrau" depicts an almost unending succession of femicides and asks about the social structures that enable and perpetuate such violence.
Cultural significance
With its 2025 Mülheim Dramatists' Prize, "Staubfrau" ranks among the most important new German-language theatre texts of its time. Maria Milisavljević places a socially urgent theme – femicide and gender-based violence – at the centre and combines the private, intergenerational perspective with a structural analysis. The play exemplifies an engaged contemporary theatre that translates statistics into lived biographies, making the urgency of the subject tangible.