DAS GEGENTEIL VON ARBEIT

Every Monday to Wednesday from 2-5pm long-term benefits claimants find sanctuary in a theatre project in Ulm. Under the auspices of a scheme that offers financial incentives for those on benefits to take up work opportunities (pejoratively known as 1-Euro-jobs) erstwhile factory workers, blue-collar employees and academics drink coffee, chat, snooze and occasionally do some acting. No one is forced to take part if they don’t want to. For the most part the people seem satisfied: the project offers them a place to go and a chance to mix with others in the same situation as themselves. It is only Klaus who gets frustrated by the lethargy he perceives around him but when he tries to organise his colleagues, conflict ensues. This project in Ulm is ostensibly about theatre but Xenia Siglova’s film uncovers the real issues that are at stake here, such as how Germany’s benefits claimants are really expected to function in society. The dark theatre room is both protective bubble and pressure chamber. Politically relevant and admirably subversive, this is an illuminating drama.