Die Leiden des jungen Azzlack (UA)

Young A. has grown up here, he went to school here, graduated and is going to university here. He lives in Europe, in a country that has been shaped by immigration for generations. In his everyday life, he is continually faced with questions that a young man named Werther never had to ask himself in the old days and which someone called Anton, Benedikt or Claudius probably hardly ever faces. His name may sound strange to some people, but he has the same passport as they do and he tells his story from his location, from Germany.
In his monologue, A. talks about himself and plays with the expectations, prejudices and attributions – both conscious and unconscious – that lurk behind even the most zealous reflections, the well-meaning notions and attitudes. But his longing for identity, which seems to melt away as soon as it is found, also comes up. He did not cause the conflict that lies in the fact that he likes Goethe’s literary language, that his grammar is better than most others’, and that he has made great efforts to run litres and litres of purely-brewed beer through his bodies – and is still categorised as a wog, Iranian, migrant, diasporic minority or child of refugees.

Growing up and being familiar with different cultures and languages: Especially in times when many life stories are confronted with the volatility and placelessness of the “global”, it becomes ever more important to define your location. But what do I concepts like “home” or “native land” mean to me? Can something like that exist for me and do I even need it? His search leads young A. through absurd situations: from the Islamic Revolution in Iran via a road-side urine test in a big German city to science fiction series where migrants have to battle aliens as well as racial profiling.

What part is he allowed to play, onstage, in front of the camera, in our society? Why does his family background keep coming up? And why is this one element of his identity so important for how people here see him, or would like to see him? Why does the border policeman prefer to talk to him in bad English rather than in his mother-tongue? With humour, sarcasm, deep meaning and, at times, anger, A. talks about a life that has been shaped by multiply refracted self-attributions and ascriptions.

Marco Damghani grew up in Hamburg and studied directing at the HfS “Ernst Busch” and at the National Institute of Dramatic Arts in Sydney. He works as a director, author and moderator. “Die Leiden des jungen Azzlack” is his first work at Schauspiel Leipzig. Actor Eidin Jalali was born in Tehran in 1992 and grew up in Vienna. He studied acting at HfS “Ernst Busch” Berlin and has been a member of Schauspiel Leipzig’s acting company since the 2020 / 21 season.