Die Hundekot-Attacke

A theatre collective is trying to create a show in the Thuringian provinces that will create the greatest possible nation-wide stir. After lengthy discussions, they decide to base their devised play on a true incident: In 2023, a choreographer smeared dog feces on a critic, a scene that was extensively discussed in the media for weeks. But the rehearsals turn out to be a real stress test for everyone involved. “Die Hundekot-Attacke” openly plays with the real and the fictitious. Developed collectively at Theaterhaus Jena, the depicted scenes could well have occurred in some form or other. Narrating in a pseudo-documentary form, the enthusiastic cast gives a highly entertaining, self-ironic and intelligent insight into the structures of the art and theatre scene.

Statement of the Jury

Right at the outset, the production quotes Robert F. Kennedy: “A life without criticism is not worth living”. And yes, this show does address the faeces-attack that occurred at Staatsoper Hannover in February 2023 – and thereby the debate about art criticism. But it is also a show that has avowedly chosen a sensational title to finally entice the nationwide press to travel to the Thuringian provinces – an aim that it has fully accomplished. It is a show about power structures in the theatre and the genius cult, about the “both attractive and disgusting words dog faeces”. And above all, it is a show that challenges these issues and thus the art (and theatre) scene. It plays on clichés, facts and fiction, on the vanity of actors, the sovereignty of critics and the presumably personal. Created with self-irony, intelligence, pseudo-documentation and within the both emotional and democratic roller-coaster processes of a collective. In short: a charming and captivating show, and of course it features a dachshund, a choreographer and a critic.

Tojuror Katrin Ullmann’s video statement in the Berliner Festspiele Media Library (in German)

ProgrammePoster (pdf 0.2 MB)