Description
Bollywood Girls
by Lutz Hübner and Sarah Nemitz
Premiere
Commissioned work for the Theater at Effingerstrasse Directed by: Stefan Meier
Stage: Sabine Freude
Costume: Sarah Bachmann
With: Kornelia Lüdorff, Charlotte Krenz, Julia Sewing, Dascha von Waberer "The world is burning, the climate is acting crazy, and we are dancing." – Debbie
"The world would also burn if we didn't dance." – Charly Four women, a dance class, a Thursday evening. Debbie, Charly, Frieda, and Chiara are the "Bollywood Girls" – each with a different life, each with a different reason for being here. What unites them is precisely what at first glance seems like a small thing: a weekly hour of Bollywood dance, somewhere between after-work and escape from everyday life. But on this one Thursday evening – the open house day – this small thing becomes a magnifying glass for four very different lives. Debbie has had a turbulent year behind her, which doesn't show at first glance. Chiara is suddenly back, even though she had long since moved away – and with her, questions that seemed to have been settled are returning. Charly almost always comes directly from the hospital to training, still carrying the professional daily grind, and brings a sobriety that sometimes feels like a cold gust of wind in the changing room. Frieda, web designer and mostly alone in front of the screen, has reserved this one appointment as a fixed escape from the home office – Thursday is her anchor in the week. In the wardrobe, the four meet while outside in the hall, the children’s ballet troupe is applauded. Between lipstick, water bottles, and the search for the right song, conversations start that no one had planned. It’s about exhaustion and relief, about closeness and distance, about how much they actually tell each other when they only know each other through dancing. And again and again, it’s about the big question in the background: why do they still dance? Is it a familiar habit, a nice appointment among many – or is it exactly what carries them through difficult times when nothing else seems to hold? Lutz Hübner and Sarah Nemitz have a keen sense for revealing big societal questions in small, very concrete situations. In "Bollywood Girls," climate anxiety and everyday duties, care work and exhaustion, old friendships and new unfamiliarity meet in a single changing room – pointed, warm-hearted, and with a sense for situational comedy that does not expose any of the four characters. It’s a play about women in middle age, who, without much announcement, test each other – and realize how much strength can be in a practiced choreography when nothing around seems to be in sync. The playwright duo Lutz Hübner and Sarah Nemitz are among the most successful contemporary authors in German-speaking theater. "Bollywood Girls" was written especially for the Theater at Effingerstrasse: a premiere that is at home in Bern.
Highlights
- Premiere of "Bollywood Girls"
- Directed by: Stefan Meier
- With: Kornelia Lüdorff, Charlotte Krenz, Julia Sewing, Dascha von Waberer
General Information
The premiere of "Bollywood Girls" takes place at the Theater at Effingerstrasse in Bern. The play tells of four women who share their different life stories and challenges in a Bollywood dance class.
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October 2026
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