Theater Summer in Jungfernheide. For an unusual venue, an unusual ensemble: the prison theater aufBruch. After Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and a dramatic version of the folk tale of "Till Eulenspiegel", this year's production is "Romulus the Great" by Friedrich Dürrenmatt.

The journey through time takes us to Rome in the year 476: the state coffers are empty, the army is deserting, the Germanic tribes are on the doorstep - the situation is hopeless. Emperor Romulus must do what emperors do: he must find a solution! But he is plagued by a much greater worry: his laying hens are on strike, they are hardly laying any eggs. What is this?! The subjects shake their heads in despair, others simply leave. The last resort is discussed: a contract killing or the idea of selling the emperor's daughter to a rich magnate. Romulus refuses the urgent state business ...

Dürrenmatt calls his play "an unhistorical historical comedy". He was tempted "for once not to let a hero perish because of the times, but to let a time perish because of a hero". aufBruch thus turns to a core question of society: We always live in supposedly great times that demand great men - but what happens when rulers don't make history, but prevent it?

An open-air production by aufBruch KUNST GEFÄNGNIS STADT in cooperation with the Kulturbiergarten Jungfernheide.

The play will be performed by a mixed ensemble of day-release prisoners, former prisoners, actors and Berlin citizens: Christian Krug, Frank T., Hans-Jürgen Simon, Josef, Maja Borm, Maria Stoecker-Baton, Massimiliano Baß, Matthias Blocher, Mikael, Mohamad Koulaghassi, Moses Al-Khalil, Para Kiala, Rashid, Sabine Böhm, Svitlana Balitska.

Director Peter Atanassow Stage design Holger Syrbe Costume design Haemin Jung Dramaturgy Hans-Dieter Schütt Musical Coach Vsevolod Silkin Production Management Sibylle Arndt Assistant Director Tobias Radcke Production assistant Franzi Kuhn Graphic design Dirk Trageser

Funded by a grant from the Berlin Senate Department for Culture and Europe.
Supported by Kulturbiergarten Jungfernheide, JVA OV Berlin, JVA Tegel, JVA Plötzensee, JSA Berlin, Bezirksamt Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf, Volksbühne am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz, Martin Neuhaus (Löwenwirt Schwerin).