Asia Weeks
by Yannic Han Biao Federer
Zwinger 1
[recommended for ages 16 and up]
Vanessa is studying to become a teacher and is quite exasperated with the blind spots of Germany’s educational system when it comes to its colonial past. At the same time, she is desperate to find the stories behind history: the trauma behind her father’s silence and how to measure the collective guilt of a life in the West of the 21st century. People around her are nonplussed by her obsession. But Vanessa can’t help herself. For her, everything is connected: Colonialism and National Socialism, Germany’s foreign intelligence service as well as Adenauer’s fear of a powerful Asia and the putsch against Indonesia’s first president, the pogroms and mass murders that followed.
In his play, Yannic Han Biao asks: How can you make the unspeakable, the repressed consumable? At the 42nd Heidelberg Stückemarkt, he was honoured with the Autor*innenpreis, the SWR Kultur Hörspielpreis and the Audience Award for »Asia Weeks«.
As part of theatre+, the performances of »Asia Weeks« will be supertitled in English. The supertitles are visible from the auditorium, but not from the seats in the stage area. Please consider this when choosing your seat on the night of the performance.
The production of the decorative parts is carried out in the workshops of the Theater und Orchester Heidelberg.
A complete list of all employees of the technical departments involved can be found here.
Listen to an introduction by Maria Schneider (in German) here.
Autor Yannic Han Biao Federer war am 21. April 2026 zu Gast bei SWR Kultur. Sein Gespräch mit Silke Arning können Sie hier nachhören.
Trailer by Siegersbuschfilm