Of All Spirits

The staff at Goethe High School are divided: how should they deal with the new right-wing extremist government, which is exerting increasing pressure on the curriculum? Ignore it? Give in? Protest? As if nerves weren't already frayed enough at the end of the school year, political tensions are compounded by personal ones, which intensify when Tim, the headmaster, finally wants to perform his Faust monologue again at the graduation party, which his wife Ella, a history teacher, always found too «phallocentric». Paula (maths and art) prefers to numb any concerns with copious amounts of alcohol, while Fred (sports) secretly envies Tim's position. But the open scandal only erupts when three students burn books in the schoolyard and complain about «too much Holocaust» ...

«Theresia Walser remains true to her dark humour ... She skilfully plays out what happens when the prophecies about AfD election victories come true.» (Nachtkritik)
«In the dialogues and monologues, we learn a lot about the gruelling everyday life of teachers today. Above all, however, there are these small, nasty shifts that the new government brings with it; it doesn't bang, it creeps and sneaks ... A highlight from the subtle, attentive wordsmith Walser: there are four characters, but only two actors ... whom Walser sends into an aporia where some end up with new dreams, others with inner emptiness ... Highly recommended!» (Süddeutsche Zeitung)