About the work
„was übrig bleibt haha“ is a commissioned play by Barbi Marković, written for her tenure as resident playwright at the Nationaltheater Mannheim. It premieres on 20 November 2026 at the Studio Werkhaus, directed by Ruth Mensah.
Plot
The play approaches the present through the shape of a crime story, drawing on trash-culture material such as mobile games, true-crime formats, cheap films and garish plastic worlds. Out of this material grows a humorous interrogation of self-optimisation pressure and global crises, presenting trash as both an escape and a means of insight.
Cultural significance
The piece opens Marković's tenure as resident playwright at the Nationaltheater Mannheim, a position first held by Friedrich Schiller in 1783/84 and reinstated at the theatre in 1996/97.