The Funeral Experience: How Clemens Berger exploits Death, Humor and Capitalism in his comedy The Angel of the Poor

ABOUT THE PLAY:

Young Marc Maló succesfully runs a low-end funeral home and calls himself the “Angel of the Poor”. Because he sells cheap funerals combined with short trips to the Swiss alps where the impoverished bereaved can scatter the ashes, he sees himself as the personification of charity. But while his business booms, rumors begin to circulate that begin to damage his reputation: every time Malo and his wife show up at a celebration, somebody dies, so people begin to avoid his company and call him the “Angel of Death”.
Despite all of this, Malo's Swiss business partner invites him and his employees to her home. So: Who will die next? 

Bios:

An acclaimed Austrian writer and playwright, Clemens Berger’s work deals with many of the themes of modern life. Berger was born in 1979 in Güssing and grew up in Oberwart. He studied philosophy in Vienna where he lives today as a writer. In addition to The Angel of the Poor Berger’s works include Die Wettesser (2007) and Das Streichelinstitut (2010).

Andreas Robertz is the stage director of this reading. Robertz is an established German theater director and producer, working in both Germany and New York. He was awarded the 2006 Cologne City Award for his direction of Martin McDonagh’s The Pillowman, and the 2008 Golden Penguin for best direction at the “Penguin’s Day Festival” for the one-woman show Which Is The Best Drug For Me by Kai Hensel. The Angel of the Poor will be performed by Robertz’s OneHeart productions.

Damion Searls is a translator from German, Norwegian, French, and Dutch and a writer in English. He has translated many of Europe's greatest writers, including Proust, Rilke, Robert Walser, Ingeborg Bachmann, Thomas Bernhard, Kurt Schwitters, Peter Handke, Jon Fosse, and Nescio, edited a new abridged edition of Thoreau's Journal, and produced a lost work of Melville's. Searls grew up in New York City, studied German philosophy at Harvard and American literature at UC Berkeley, and has received writing and translating awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, PEN America, PEN Center USA, the Netherland America Foundation, the University of California, and the Austrian, Belgian, and Dutch governments. He lives with his wife and son in Brooklyn.

DAAD sponsored event.

Made possible through the generous support of Air Berlin.

In cooperation with the Austrian Cultural Forum.

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