An
investigation
into one of
the biggest
medical
scandals
of the
post-war
period
Every day, thousands of cancer patients in Germany put their trust in their doctors and pharmacists. However, a large-scale research project by investigative journalists has repeatedly found evidence of unnecessary chemotherapies, expired and insufficiently dosed medications. The scale of the scandal seems to be much larger than previously assumed. The victims: patients and the health system itself. In a scenic installation, Helge Schmidt and team juxtapose the systematic failure with the fate of individual victims: How much striving for profit can the health system tolerate? Can medical care and patient support even be an economic market?
The award-winning production ‘Cum-Ex Papers’ by theatre director Helge Schmidt and his team and the follow-up work ‘Tax for free’ already featured at the asphalt Festival. For the production ‘Die Krebsmafia’ (The Cancer Mafia), which asphalt is co-producing, Schmidt is once again working with the investigative journalist Oliver Schröm from the ARD magazine ‘Panorama’ and his colleagues.
Helge Schmidt (*1983 in Schwerin) worked for a number of seasons at the Thalia Theater Hamburg and has been working as a freelance director for several years. He is active in the independent scene as well as at the city theatre and his works have been invited to festivals numerous times. His work ‘Cum-Ex Papers’ was awarded the theatre prize DER FAUST in the category Direction Drama in 2019.
A production by Helge Schmidt and team in co-production with asphalt Festival Düsseldorf, LICHTHOF Theater Hamburg and TD Berlin, supported by the Fonds Darstellende Künste with funds from the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media, the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, Department for Culture and the Media, the ZEIT-Stiftung Ebelin und Gerd Bucerius, the Berit und Rainer Baumgarten Stiftungsfonds under the umbrella of the Hamburgische Kulturstiftung, the Ilse und Dr. Horst Rusch Stiftung, the Rudolf Augstein Stiftung and the LICHTHOF Stiftung.
– – –
with Jonas Anders, Günter Schaupp, Laura Uhlig and Judith Weßbecher
Direction, Text: Helge Schmidt
Set, Video: TÒ SU / Martina Mahlknecht, Martin Prinoth
Artistic Collaboration Set Design/Video: Mona Rizaj
Music: Frieder Hepting
Dramaturgy: Franziska Bulban
Lighting: Sönke C. Herm
Assistance: Judith Weßbecher
Production Management: Zwei Eulen (Kaja Jakstat)
