Jahre mit Martha

In the organizer's words:

Play based on the novel by Martin Kordić

Directed by: Julia Hölscher

with English surtitles

The life of 15-year-old Željko Drazenko Kovačević, who is hungry for education, has nothing to do with that of wealthy professor Martha Gruber, for whom his mother cleans. Nevertheless, a very special love story develops between the two, which has a significant impact on Željko's life. With the help of Martha and driven by his anger at the limitations imposed on him by his own background, Željko manages to advance his education and goes to university in Munich. However, he soon realizes that overcoming social class comes at a price and that the search for harmony between the different versions of himself is far from over.

Martin Kordić's novel paints a portrait of society that is as clever as it is touching, combining class differences and migration history with questions about the power relations and human desire contained therein.