Das kunstseidene Mädchen (The Artificial Silk Girl)
after the novel by Irmgard Keun, adapted for the stage by Elsa-Sophie Jachafter the novel by Irmgard Keun, adapted for the stage by Elsa-Sophie Jach
Content description
Eighteen-year-old Doris has only one dream: she wants to become »glamorous«! To do this she needs to get away from narrow provincial life. She has had enough of her miserable day to day life as a secretary and her boss’s unwanted advances. Impulsively she steals a fur coat and runs away to Berlin to avoid the police. Here she plunges into 1930s nightlife and initially enjoys some brief moments of notoriety and wealth. But the reality of the late Weimar Republic with high unemployment and widespread poverty is far from the »glamour« she hoped for. Doris goes through one disappointment and painful experience after another but still refuses to be discouraged and continues to go her own way with confidence.
Show more information
Eighteen-year-old Doris has only one dream: she wants to become »glamorous«! To do this she needs to get away from narrow provincial life. She has had enough of her miserable day to day life as a secretary and her boss’s unwanted advances. Impulsively she steals a fur coat and runs away to Berlin to avoid the police. Here she plunges into 1930s nightlife and initially enjoys some brief moments of fame and wealth. But the reality of the late Weimar Republic with high unemployment and widespread poverty is far from the »glamour« she hoped for. Doris goes through one disappointment and painful experience after another but still refuses to be discouraged and continues to go her own way with confidence.
In her novel Irmgard Keun presents the desire for social advancement from the perspective of her female protagonist as an act of self-empowerment. She is repeatedly confronted by insurmountable social, economic and patriarchal barriers that thwart her path to »glamour«. As a consequence, her hopes of social acknowledgement ultimately become a battle for survival in a time of radical political change.
Following the adaptation of »After Midnight«, with »The Artificial Silk Girl« the Residenztheater continues its exploration of the work of Irmgard Keun – one of the most influential and successful literary voices of the Weimar Republic. For several years the authors of this period – such as Anna Gmeyner, Marieluise Fleißer, Lion Feuchtwanger, Thomas and Heinrich Mann – have formed a major theme in the Residenztheater’s repertoire and also in the work of resident director Elsa-Sophie Jach.
