About the Play:

HARD TO FIND BOOK, only a very limited number of copies are still available.

Mr Kolpert is a full-length comedy by David Gieselmann, translated by David Tushingham. We're at Ralph and Sarah's for a night in of games and pizza. Our hosts are a young couple, slightly eccentric. Afraid the evening will be boring, the couple aim to spice things up by claiming that they have the body of Sarah's colleague, Mr Kolpert, in a trunk. Are they heartless jokers or ruthless killers? Mr Kolpert is a black comedy that becomes almost farcical.

Mr Kolpert examines human emotion and the fine line between fun and games to "unwind" after a long day of work. Life is going right over Ralph and Sarah's heads. They decide to invite a couple of friends round for drinks and pizza in order to relieve their boredom. To get the party started Ralph jokes that the conspicuous trunk in the middle of their living room holds the remains of wife Sarah's co-worker, Mr. Kolpert. Are they practical jokers or is there something darker going on? While they are waiting for the pizza, they play party games and discuss films, but nothing can cover up the tense atmosphere between the two couples. And maybe Ralph is not pretending after all... With its echoes of Alan Ayckbourn and Joe Orton, Mr Kolpert is a delightfully morbid black comedy with a nod to Hitchcock's Rope.

Mr Kolpert premiered in 2000 at Royal Court Theatre Upstairs as part of the International Playwrights season in London. The US premiere was in 2006 at the Odyssey Theatre in Los Angeles. The play enjoyed widespread acceptance among leading regional theatres all over Europe, the US, and Australia. It's not hard to see why. Mr. Kolpert requires a small cast and minimal stagecraft.

Cast: 2 female, 3 male

What people say:

"Comedy doesn't come much blacker or better than this – brilliant." — The Guardian

"Shocking and shockingly funny. Glitters with exceptionally clever comic writing." — The Times

"...this play is a wicked treat for the morbidly inclined – a bonbon filled with arsenic." — Variety

"...in Mr. Kolpert, up-and-coming German playwright David Gieselmann wields a double-edged sword, carving out a mortally incisive sendup of postmodern European corruption and angst, while at the same time striking a lethal blow to the funny bone." — Los Angeles Times

"The play is hysterical, but it's brilliance is that it makes you laugh at a situation that is not only incredibly shocking but also, at a deeper level, incredibly sad. Then there comes a moment when it's just not funny anymore." — Broadway World

About the Playwright:

David Gieselmann is a German stage and radio playwright. From 1994 to 1998, he studied Creative Writing for the Stage at the Berlin University of the Arts and worked on his own first productions. In 1999, he was invited to the International Residency of Playwrights and the Week of New German Playwrights at the Royal Court Theatre in London. His plays have been performed in Scandinavia, Italy, Greece, France, Poland, Australia and the USA.