GOODBYE LENIN! Theatrical adaptation and direction by Alexandros Koen

Cast in alphabetical order: Giannis Athanassopoulos, Chara Doufeka, Maria Kavallari, Evi Karadima, Evi Dalouka, Kostas Piperidis, Alexandros Tselepidakis.

Thanks to Alexander’s smart fabrications, his mother (a fanatical communist who is in coma and has not realised yet the fall of the Berlin Wall) continues to believe that she lives in the old communist regime , in an enjoyable comedy.

The comedy Goodbye Lenin! deals with East Germany during the communist regime, and the first months of its reunification with West Germany – after the fall of the Wall of shame.

The play – adapted for the theater – presents the story of Christiane Kerner (a fanatical communist of East Germany) who a few months before the fall of the wall falls into a coma, when she sees her son Alexander taking part in a demonstration for the removal of the wall.

When she wakes up, eight months later, we are after the fall of the Berlin wall and the reunification of East and West Germany. But because her dangerous state of health, Alexander and her daughter Ariane, avoid revealing her the truth, finding different ways to convince her that the situation is as before and that nothing has changed.

In her bed where she is stuck around the awkward old furniture that her children had thrown away earlier, Christiane still eats meals in cans with old labels, watching videos of filmed old regime news which are presented to her as the latest news. Alexander gradually creates a small “communist regime” in their apartment in order to keep the illusion alive.