Zwischen Welten

About the production

Twenty years ago, they had moved out of their student flat share in order to take off into the future. Theresa took over her father's farm in Brandenburg; Stefan took a job at a major Hamburg weekly newspaper and rose to become head of department, with his next career steps right in front of him. A coincidence brings the former friends together unprepared. The initial reunion turns into an explosive atmosphere, but leads to a highly emotional electronic correspondence between the two.

The novel »Zwischen Welten« (Mjazy swětami), co-written by Juli Zeh and Simon Urban, is an exemplary and not without humour portrayal of how divergent biographical and professional developments put two formerly inseparable people on opposite sides of a barricade. Firstly, Theresa and Stefan decide to get to know each other again through writing and tell each other about their everyday struggles in emails and messages. Stefan fights his as a committed, environmentally conscious cultural journalist with a pen and computer keyboard, while Theresa, an organic farmer and mother, looks at climate policy issues from the perspective of the cowshed and from the seat of her tractor. Although their mutual affection remains unchanged, their controversial positions become more radicalised. The relationship is on the brink of collapse, unless they change the coordinates, leave the playing field and abandon systems that are perceived as rigid.

In the tradition of the classic epistolary novel, Zeh and Urban dissect the state of mind of a large part of the population in our country with analytical precision and empathy for the opponents. As detailed as they are comprehensive, they reveal the causes of the formation of political camps, which manifests itself in increasing ideologisation and irreconcilability. And they do not conceal who pays the bill in the end.

Juli Zeh has lived in Leipzig and Brandenburg, among other places, for 30 years and is familiar with the everyday changes within society and in the culture of political debate from both German perspectives. Juli Zeh already wrote about topics from rural Brandenburg in her novel »Unterleuten« (2016), which was filmed by ZDF with an exquisite cast, and »Über Menschen« (2021).  »Zwischen Welten« (2023) was written in collaboration with Simon Urban, a successful author of novels and film works.

Together with two members of the Cottbus State Theatre ensemble, its new artistic director, director Hasko Weber, is preparing a staged reading of the highly topical social novel exclusively for the Lausitz Festival.

sceniske cytanje z bestsellera wót Juli Zeh a Simona Urbana

»From the outside, the two of us are quite the comedy material: you the top journalist from Hamburg, me the dairy farmer from the Brandenburg province. It could be quite a funny story.«

Theresa – from »Zwischen Welten«

powěsći z drugego swěta