ARE YOU READY TO DIE?

From May 1430 to May 1431, the famous and controversial Joan of Arc was imprisoned, awaiting her execution. This year was notably omitted by Friedrich Schiller in his 1801 adaptation of the historical material. This gap in the theatrical canon gives director Marie Schleef reason to explore the fate of women* condemned to death.

What if Joan were alive today? How much waiting time would Schiller have to cut from the biography of a modern-day Johanna? Amnesty International reports that women* worldwide are disproportionately likely to end up on death row, where they face discrimination and questionable legal processes. Most of these fates, however, play out far from the public eye.

The play addresses this global void. Through the aesthetic means of theatre, a condition that is mostly hidden from public awareness by sealed cells becomes visible. Marie Schleef's directorial works formally and innovatively bring to the stage what often remains hidden. Her feminist works explore the world under a magnifying glass and create new theatrical narratives.

Together with her team, she invites the audience into a secluded cosmos for the opening of the Schiffbau Box, where the perception of a liminal existence — the suspended state in a death row cell — can be viscerally experienced and shared.