About the work
“Warten auf'n Bus” (Waiting for the Bus) is the stage version of the comedy series of the same name that Oliver Bukowski created for the broadcaster Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg; Hannah Zufall co-wrote its second season. The series launched in April 2020 in the ARD Mediathek and comprises two seasons with a total of 15 episodes. The material was first staged on 18 November 2021 at Theater Bielefeld, directed by Michael Heicks. In 2026 Bukowski and Zufall wrote a stage version with new episodes for the Berliner Ensemble.
Plot
Hannes and Ralle, two unemployed men in their late forties, spend their days at the last stop of a rural bus line in the fictional Brandenburg village of Briesenow. One of them used to work as an engineer in open-cast mining, the other is a disabled landscape architect. While waiting for buses that rarely come, they talk about life and everything else in Berlin-Brandenburg dialect; now and then the bus driver Kathrin and other villagers join in.
Cultural significance
The series was widely praised by critics, nominated for the German Television Award and the Grimme Award, and received an award at Filmfest Hamburg. The stage version was described as popular theatre about the East German provinces after reunification; its reception ranged from the enthusiasm of the Bielefeld premiere audience to the objection that its East German jokes hardly carry in the West.