etb English
Theatre
Berlin International Performing Arts Center

Can Dolly Parton Save THE USA?

An evening of conversation, country & western music, and Jell-O salad

A lot of folks are worried about the state of democracy in the United States. Is it teetering on the brink? Is a civil war looming? Are the tech billionaires supporting its downfall?

Harriet: I just think it´s sad that people have such a negative perception of our country right now. I’m not a historian but I know that America has been through some crises, rough times, and divisions before, and I’d like to think that we’ve always been able to come back onto the right track.

Sally: What is that, the right track? And for who?  For the Right, for the rich, for the billionaire tech bros and their folks?

Rhonda: Not for mine, that’s for sure.

Thanksgiving in Berlin. Fred and his US-American wife Rhonda have invited guests from her motherland over for a turkey dinner. Inevitably, the conversation drifts from the American Dream – via Karl May and Western movies – to the topic of all topics: What is going on in the US? Strangely enough, Dolly Parton seems to be in the room, too. And a country & western band magically appears. The evening escalates..,

Fred: The Western opened up an exciting world where you knew right from the start that the good guys will win in the end. And they win because they’re the good guys – not because they’re stronger or because they are more people or have more guns, but because they’re good, period! And that’s how the West was won.

Sally: But Fred I’m sure you’re aware that that’s all a bunch of lies!!

Fred: Of course, I know, but that doesn’t make James Stewart’s fights less exciting.

In the fourth installment of its “Conversations with Cultural Icons” series, The Waltraud Experience tackles one of the most pressing issues of our time: Where are the United States headed? The right and the left stand in completely irreconcilable opposition; a stalemate has been reached.

Oh the West ain’t what it used to be  / Wild and Wooly and full of fleas / Now we live a life of ease, chatting to our GPTs / The West ain’t what it used to be

Country music icon Dolly Parton is often looked to as a unifying figure; someone both the right and the left can agree on. Yet, a closer look reveals that Dolly prefers to stay out of it … she sings, she cracks jokes, and she champions “positive thinking”… but politics? No thanks.

The Waltraud Experience performs cultural history – first in a series of six productions dealing with science issues (the Science&Theatre series) followed by four “Conversations with Cultural Icons” – Jaws/Der weiße Hai – Bowie in Berlin – Pop! Andy Warhol&The Velvet Underground – The West Ain´t What It Used To Be. –  shows about the question how Pop became Culture. They have been coproducing with ETB/IPAC since 2010.