Strawberry orphans

Both theatres conduct their research process under the title “Strawberry Orphans” based on the growing phenomenon of the labor migration of Romanian women to Germany or other western European countries. The intention is to develop a joint theatre documentary play with a mixed cast on stage from both theatre ensembles as well as the werkgruppe2 artist research group.

Many women from poorer countries such as Romania, the poorest EU-country, emigrate to Western Europe. In Romania `picking` has become synonymic for every job women and men are doing in the West: picking strawberries, cleaning, taking care of the elderly and children, working at meat-markets or dockyards. They are sending their wages back to the families they left behind (often including their own children and elderly relatives), they become significantly interlinked with the economy of both countries.

Now the elderly relatives are again the generation who cares for the children and who has to bear responsibility for their social, emotional and political education. Their idea of what retirement could be is completely different from the modern comforts of German pensioners. What are the new family structures which emerge from this demand for work?

Yet, at what emotional and psychological cost? The theatres in Craiova and Braunschweig will research the effects that labor migration from Romania has on the family members depending on and missing them at home. The performance will be staged with actors from both countries and they will change languages for the performances in Romania and Germany respectively.