Anatomie eines Suizids (Anatomy of a Suicide)

Statement of the Jury

In her play “Anatomy of a Suicide”, dramatist Alice Birch introduces the audience to three women: Mother Clara, her daughter Anna and her granddaughter Bonnie. Clara suffers from severe depression, her daughter tries to compensate her unhappiness with drugs, both of them end up taking their lives. Bonnie, however, explores different avenues. Actors Julia Wieninger, Gala Othero Winter and Sandra Gerling portray the women at different points in their lives. Katie Mitchell stages this ingeniously composed play as a sensitive show about the pain of being alive and the attempt to get a grip on one’s existence. The stories of these three women are set in the past, present and future and are assembled in parallel, both in the text and on stage. A triptych of generations emerges. And a psychologically complex show that finds an exciting new way to ask what a successful life is.