Theatre performance
Production Luzerner Theater, Switzerland
Premiere 13.11.2025
Language German
Duration 90 minutes
Director Anna-Maria Lipponen
Dramaturgy Martin Wigger
Set, light design Petri Tuhkanen
Costume design Coline Meret Lola Jud
Sound design Antti Puumalainen
Video design Anna-Maria Lipponen, Petri Tuhkanen
Cinematography Petri Tuhkanen
Directors assistent Valeria Popp
Photos: Petri Tuhkanen, Ingo Hoehn
On stage Oliver Losehand, Tini Prüfert, Anne Sauvageot
In a time that tries to forget death, life, too, sometimes gets stuck in a transit zone. How can we accept change that not only is coming but is urgently needed? How do we, as a society, create a meaningful ritual of transition? The ferrywoman*—once powerful guardians of the rivers and navigators of the world—have lost their significance. In the past, people sought them out to guide them through chaos and transformation; today, they are seen merely as a means to the end of crossing over.
The last ferrywoman* quits her job to found the “Happy Dying Retreat” — a place where people can practice dying. But since interest in longevity prevails, she hires a filmmaker to create a commercial and immediately targets her as a potential client. While a veteran actor who has been working at the retreat for ages senses his last chance at fame in the young filmmaker, two undead hosts discuss undeath and zombie ants with a myrmecologist on their podcast “Undead: Unscripted.”
A distinctly satirical play about holding on, the fear of letting go, and the transformation that is ultimately inevitable — written by playwright Sarah Calörtscher during the 24/25 season, when she was playwright-in-residence at the Luzerner Theater. Her play Heart of Polyester received the Kleist Promotion Award in 2024 and premiered at the Deutsches Theater Berlin.
