Staying – German Course II

Turntable-Theater mit Lizzy Timmers & DJ Légères übers Deutsch lernen und Bleiben

In her production “Deutschkurs” (“German Course”), the Dutch performer and theater maker Lizzy Timmers recounted, lesson by lesson, her arrival in Germany. What Jelena Petrowna Fischer, a.k.a. Helene Fischer, managed to do couldn’t have been that hard for Lizzy either. Four years have passed since then, and Lizzy is still called Lizzy—but she is also still here: she has learned German, read Schiller, eaten cake with her neighbors and listened to their stories, and feels well acquainted with her new home. She is a Jena expert. Or so she thinks.

So why do these moments of uncertainty keep arising? In her new production “Bleiben – Deutschkurs II” (“Staying – German Course II”), Lizzy takes stock. What does she really know about this country, about this city, about the Jena vibe?

Whom has she met in Jena, and what does it mean for new friendships that the impending move is always sitting at the coffee table too? Were these neighbors perhaps the best she has ever had?! And how is it possible that she now understands Schiller, but still doesn’t understand how people supposedly recognize that she’s not from the East?

Set to music by Thomas Schläfer, a.k.a. DJ Légères, Lizzy sings about the people she has encountered—an ode to some of Jena’s residents.

Premiere: October 20, 2022
Running time: 1 h 25 min