At The Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus, “Gott ‘By Ferdinand Von Schirach Presents Its Tough Ethical Dilemma For The Audience To Vote On

Ferdinand von Schirach was born in 1964, studied law and became a noted criminal defense lawyer. He turned his extensive experience into fiction with a collection of novels, screenplays and stage plays. Gott was premiered both as a film for TV and as a stage play in 2020, and has seen 27 productions for German theatres since, accumulating around 560 performances. Depending on the production, different characters have been allocated different genders.

The play takes the shape of a hearing of the German Ethics Committee (a fictionalized committee), where an advocate for each of two opposing sides questions a range of expert witnesses. At the end of each performance, the audience votes in favor or against the central motion, and the results are accumulated on a purpose-made website.

The issue at the core of Gott is whether 78-year-old architect Richard Gärtner (in some other productions Elisabeth Gärtner) should be allowed to be given Natriumpentobarbital by a qualified medical doctor so as to allow him to commit suicide. Gärtner is in full mental and physical health and has decided he does not want to live any longer because, after the death of his wife of 42 years three years ago, he does not see any further purpose in life. The specialists are his GP, the chair of the central national association of medical doctors, a professor of administrative law, and the chair of the association of Catholic bishops. A solicitor represents Gärtner, and a member of the Ethics Committee apparently represents a more critical approach. A chairperson ensures procedures are followed properly. Gärtner makes his contribution through video link.

The arguments presented are far-reaching and the modes of presentation varied, depending on the assumed characteristics of the main characters as defined by the respective production. Star status of any of the actors might of course sway spectator opinions and decisions.

The production has been part of the repertory of Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus since the play’s world premiere there on 20 September 2020. Gärtner was played by company stalwart Wolfgang Reinbacher, present backstage for live, not recorded, moments for statements to the committee shown via video link. Reinbacher convincingly conveyed Gärtner’s clarity of mind at the basis of his firm wish to be supported in his suicide. Reinbacher also portrayed the deeply rooted despair at life without his late wife, so much more than the outcome of a bout of depression. In his determination he was willing to accept the implicit suffering of his children, valuing his own wellbeing over theirs.

The experts were not reduced to enunciating ethical positions: they came across as institutionally powerful individuals, powerful due to their respective standing within their professional organizations of medicine and clergy. At times that mode of being powerful and being fully aware of it made the characters less likeable than would have been the case otherwise. For the expert of administrative law, authority came with the actor cast in this role, his age suggesting a professional highflyer who has achieved professorial status and the renown to make him an expert witness for a national committee at an astonishingly young age.

Such personal nuances added substance to the merely intellectual presentation of intellectually academic reasoning, as did the occasionally aggressive questioning by Gärtner’s solicitor, compared with the more expectable issues raised by the representative of the ethics committee.

Towards the end of the performance, which ran to just under two tightly packed hours without interval, the committee chair ended the committee session and asked the spectators to raise either the green or the red cardboard card they had received before entering the auditorium, depending on whether they were in favor or against the motion at the core of the hearing, that Gärtner should be given access to Natriumpentobarbital by the medical doctor of his choice. Approximately 70% voted in favor, in line with the overall statistics (which had an accumulated score of 62% in favor until 16 April 2026, on the basis of 544 productions in 27 theatres).