A staged reading Premiere April 30, 2026
"When I saw this prison yard, I thought: there's going to be a beating here."
Nazi court prison, Soviet remand prison, Stasi prison. The Schwerin prison building on Demmlerplatz has stood here since 1916. Regimes have changed, but the building's function has not. Countless people were imprisoned here over the decades, countless fates, who experienced violence, uncertainty and fear. Legitimized by a law that pronounced them guilty - and in its inhumanity brought guilt upon itself. Based on the voices of former prisoners, fragments of the experience of violence and monotony and contemporary documents of prison history, a scenic tour through the former cell wing provides insights into the eventful history of the place.
SCHULDIG was developed in collaboration between the Mecklenburg State Theatre's drama department, students from the University of Greifswald*, the Schwerin Documentation Center and the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern State Center for Political Education. The acting ensemble brings the selected fragments between right and wrong to life. A subsequent audience discussion invites the audience to exchange ideas.
*Research work by the history teaching students at the University of Greifswald:
Seminar leader: Dr. Martin Buchsteiner
Students: Fiete Acker, Maybritt Adolphi, Tommy Arndt, Hannah Sophie Bär, Moritz Herz, Lea Hitschler, Klemens Humburg, Svenja Kruse, Philipp Nowitzki, Malik Ouyahia, Jacob Zarmstorff
The event is barrier-free, please register in advance if required.
All proceeds remain with the Mecklenburg State Theater.
