HE SAID, SHE SAID

Ferdinand von Schirach

HE SAID, SHE SAID

Courtroom drama

Translated from German by Silvija Brice

At the New Hall of Dailes Theatre

Premiere -

• 03.10.2025.

A performance in 2 acts

A successful woman meets a successful man. They begin an affair. Both are married and have children. A few years later, they decide to separate, but chance brings them together again. “This time the physical intimacy was not mutual, but violent,” she said. “That is not true,” he said. Now the well-known public figures, TV host Katharina Schlüter and Professor Christian Thiede, sit opposite each other in the courtroom as enemies.

The private lives of both become public and subject to public judgment, on which their professional future also depends. The trial is filled with an incredible amount of evidence that, in a thriller-like manner, literally strips bare the former lovers and their secrets. The court is inclined to believe Katharina’s role as the victim, but only up to a point… Who is telling the truth in the end?

The playwright Ferdinand von Schirach, who lives in Berlin, is a lawyer who has rapidly become one of the most internationally renowned and prolific contemporary German authors. He has created a tense procedural drama about sexuality and boundaries, lies and possibilities, values and prejudice in society. This provocative #MeToo-themed work, which raises controversial questions, including whether a woman is always a victim, has been adapted for the screen and staged successfully in many parts of Europe.

Cast: Kristīne Nevarauska (Katharina Schlüter, the victim), Dainis Gaidelis (Judge), Ieva Segliņa or Vita Vārpiņa (Breslauer, defense attorney), Lauris Subatnieks (Bigler, attorney for the victim), Marta Lovisa Jančevska (Pia Altstetter, psychology expert), Aldis Siliņš (Frank Reiters, chief detective of the criminal police), Inga Alsiņa-Lasmane (Valērija Maiburg, witness), Indra Briķe (Marija Lauks-Fronava, forensic doctor), Imants Strads (Paul Marocka, taxi driver), Andris Bulis (Christian Thiede, the accused), Intars Stilbiņš (Court usher), Juris Bartkevičs (Heise, chief prosecutor)

Director – Dmitrijs Petrenko, set and costume designer – -8, lighting designer – Niks Cipruss