This is the story of the star footballer Ivo Trifunović. He says that with football; “the question is not whether you love football, it’s whether you need football.” Ivo needs it – and he’s made it too:  Chelsea, Real Madrid, HSV, Everton, the Austrian national team, the Euros, the World Cup, the Champions League. Right now, it’s not entirely clear what the next step in his career will be: after all, he is 27. In between training and recovery sessions, endless meetings, the psychobabble of the fitness staff, angry managers and greedy officials, Ivo is bored and waits – on 100,000 Euro a week – for the next game. Ivo’s family is from Serbia and he grew up in Vienna. He loves his Bosnian grandma and his mates from the cages where he began playing. And of course, he loves his wife Jessie and the two kids. But while he’s waiting outside a hotel for Jessie in his Bugatti, he sees Mirna. When he was growing up, Mirna was a goddess – and all the boys were in love with her. They arrange to meet up and now Ivo can think of nothing else and starts secretly listening to the playlist that Mirna sent him after their first date.

Embedded in a panorama of real top footballers and clubs and against a backdrop of genuine sporting events, we immerse ourselves in the thoughts of the fictional Ivo Trifunović. He shares his view of the world with us, of football, love and family. And the question of belonging and exclusion.

Nicht wie ihr (“Not Like You”) offers a very particular perspective on the macho business of football in language that is entertaining and direct. This production based on Tonio Schachinger’s eponymous novel will not be presented in the theatre but in the clubhouses of a number of football clubs in Bochum. And not just for football fans!

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  • Duration: 1:10h, no break
  • Premiere: 04.05.2022
  • Language: German
Trailer: Siegersbusch Film
theatre urban space
All people
Cast
Konstantin Bühler, Karin Moog, Anne Rietmeijer (from left)
© China Hopson
Nicht wie ihr: Anne Rietmeijer, Konstantin Bühler, Karin Moog (from left)
© China Hopson
Nicht wie ihr: Konstantin Bühler
© China Hopson
Nicht wie ihr: Karin Moog, Konstantin Bühler, Anne Rietmeijer (from left)
© China Hopson
Nicht wie ihr: Konstantin Bühler, Anne Rietmeijer, Karin Moog (from left)
© China Hopson
Nicht wie ihr: Konstantin Bühler, Anne Rietmeijer, Karin Moog (from left)
© China Hopson
Nicht wie ihr: Konstantin Bühler, Anne Rietmeijer (from left)
© China Hopson
Nicht wie ihr: Anne Rietmeijer, Konstantin Bühler, Karin Moog (from left)
© China Hopson
Nicht wie ihr: Anne Rietmeijer, Konstantin Bühler, Karin Moog (from left)
© China Hopson
Nicht wie ihr: Anne Rietmeijer, Konstantin Bühler, Karin Moog (from left)
© China Hopson
Nicht wie ihr: Anne Rietmeijer, Konstantin Bühler, Karin Moog (from left)
© China Hopson
Nicht wie ihr: Konstantin Bühler, Karin Moog, Anne Rietmeijer (from left)
© China Hopson
Nicht wie ihr: Konstantin Bühler, Karin Moog, Anne Rietmeijer (from left)
© China Hopson
Nicht wie ihr: Anne Rietmeijer
© China Hopson
Nicht wie ihr: Karin Moog
© China Hopson
Nicht wie ihr: Konstantin Bühler, Karin Moog, Anne Rietmeijer (from left)
© China Hopson
Press voices

Der Abend schnurrt packender dahin als so manche Champions-League-Partie.
Süddeutsche Zeitung, Alexander Menden

Das Ensemble spielt so versiert, dass einerseits die Story von Ivo miterzählt wird, andererseits Szenen dialogisch anklingen oder Ivos innerer Monolog von kleinen Dramen erzählt: Ein Ziehen im Rücken. Karin Moog, Anne Rietmeijer und Konstantin Bühler kriechen um drei Sitzwürfel (Bühne: Jelden). Ivo hat Schmerzen und macht den Vereinsarzt zur Sau. Die Shoppingtour nach London wird abgesagt. Auch Spielerfrau Jessy leidet („Komm’ nicht mit dem Bugatti“). Wenn Ivo sie aufmuntern will, fragt er nach einem brutalen Sport? Fußball, da wird geschossen und geköpf! Mehr Empathie geht nicht.
Westfälischer Anzeiger, Achim Lettmann

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