Munich theatre stages Vinterberg’s satire on alcohol

Munich’s Metropoltheater has staged a dark comedy about alcohol misuse, adapted from Danish director Thomas Vinterberg’s award-winning film Druk, BR reports. The production follows four teachers whose drinking first brings them closer, then exposes the damage it causes.

The film’s premise draws on a theory by Norwegian psychiatrist Finn Skårderud, which has no scientific basis. It suggests that people should maintain a blood alcohol level of 0.5 parts per thousand to overcome supposed biological deficits. Vinterberg turned the idea into a grotesque satire, now adapted for the stage by Metropoltheater director Jochen Schölch.

Schölch says the four teachers have become closed off from one another, leaving their friendship superficial. Alcohol appears to help them have genuine encounters, though he stresses that it is not necessary for that. At first the teachers feel more relaxed and confident as they drink. As their consumption rises, so do the consequences.

The stage is filled with liquor bottles, and the teachers trade drinking jokes. They mix absinthe, but the drinking is less about finding happiness than suppressing fear, Schölch says. He links the production’s themes to people’s attempts to shut out a reality they find difficult to understand and process. He also says loneliness is one of society’s biggest problems and is discussed too little.

The teachers fear their lives and their students, and struggle with damaged relationships and self-doubt. Even a stressed student is given a drink to help prepare for a final exam. The story ends with one person dead and the others drinking considerably less. The production’s message is that alcohol cannot bring happiness: that depends on human closeness and honesty, which require courage.

Schölch describes the ending as bittersweet. The production avoids preaching and is not intended as a substitute for therapy, BR reports.