Robbers’ Hands

• Street Festivals

Based on the novel by Finn-Ole Heinrich

Adapted by Michael Müller

To what extent does our identity change when we gain new insights on our ancestry? Is an imagined identity any less authentic than a ‘real’ one?

In their allotment, ‘Stambul’, Samuel and Janik study for their A Levels and dream of the future. While Janik tries to distance himself from his wealthy teacher parents, his best friend Samuel, son of an alcoholic, takes pains to achieve a structured daily routine and normality. As their friendship comes under threat over the course of a single evening, they make a spur of the moment decision to travel to Istanbul to save their relationship and find Samuel’s unidentified father, who might be Turkish – a hopeless undertaking. For Samuel, Istanbul gives a more concrete form to his desire for identity and belonging, but for Janik, his friend’s ‘half-Turkishness’ becomes a barrier, and for him the journey through Istanbul becomes more and more nightmarish.
In his debut novel, ‘Räuberhände’ (‘Robbers’ Hands’), award-winning Hamburg writer Finn-Ole Heinrich powerfully yet poetically explores the huge themes of homeland, desire, identity and friendship.

World premiere at Thalia in Gaußstraße on 16th August 2013

In their allotment, ‘Stambul’, Samuel and Janik study for their A Levels and dream of the future. While Janik tries to distance himself from his wealthy teacher parents, his best friend Samuel, son of an alcoholic, takes pains to achieve a structured daily routine and normality. As their friendship comes under threat over the course of a single evening, they make a spur of the moment decision to travel to Istanbul to save their relationship and find Samuel’s unidentified father, who might be Turkish – a hopeless undertaking.