TRAKTORFABRIK
A dark tragicomedy inspired by the war diaries of Vasily Grossman written in 2014

Premiere, Arenberg Schouwburg Antwerp October 8, 2014

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“Her words carry the conviction of historical suffering… her dialogue is intensely specific and very moving” 

New York Jewish Week

SYNOPSIS SHORT

During an everlasting, never-ending war, somewhere, sometime two men and one woman are stuck in the underground bunker: Connection Station TRAKTORFABRIK. While being surrounded by the enemy, the so-called ‘Others’, our three characters remain inside in the confined space. Their only connection to the outside is a periscope, a pneumatic system, and an often unreliable radio transmitter. Hungry and feeling abandoned by Headquarters, they survive for days, weeks, decades - who is counting after all - and are fighting this war for Leader and Motherland for better or worse.

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SYNOPSIS LONG

After a bombing, 2 men and a woman are buried alive in an underground bunker, located under the former TRAKTORFABRIK (the tractor factory). The self-sustaining bunker becomes a cocoon, a large bubble. The restriction of the four walls defines the new world, rules are made and accepted. An artificial harmony is created, in the knowledge that life goes on, but under slightly different circumstances.

Then, out of the blue, a cat walks around in the bunker. How did that little arrogant creature get here? The certainty that entrance is possible, disturbs and upsets the daily harmony. The restriction of the four walls was a peacekeeper.

Now that this border is no longer certain, individual aspirations arise again. Like in the plays of Chekhov or Gogol, the appearance of the kitten evokes an accumulation of theories. It raises discussions about life, war, and hope. And last but not least, the entrance of the cat makes the inmates show a more emotional aspect of their behavior. Unfortunately, not only the cat entered, death is also luring as an uninvited guest.

Based on 4 years of research: true stories, diaries, and testimonies of civilians and soldiers of WW1, WW2, partisan stories, the sieges of Leningrad and Stalingrad, and especially the war diaries of Russian journalist Vasily Grossman.

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CHARACTERS

FRITZ aka Professor, 45-year-old man

This melancholic Shakespearian man, often tells the truth and isn’t particularly liked for doing so. Although well-educated and smart, he is what people would call a troublemaker. As a science professor, he was very respectable, he even got nominated for a ‘national price’, but ended up falling out of grace with the regime for not blindly following the Leader. His punishment was to be sent to the front.

 

PROT aka Petchnika Prot, 45 year old woman (transgender/ man can portray her)

A rather hu

ngry, selfish, opportunistic woman. Not beautiful, not feminine, not nice, not who you would like to end up with on a deserted island or be stuck in a bunker. However, all her nasty behavior might be the result of a defense mechanism against a rather unkind, surrounding world. Eventually, a little fragile being will emerge out of all that swearing and rudeness. And we, the audience, will grow to like her blunt honesty.

 

VOLODJA aka Vova aka Lieutenant, 20-year-old man

As the highest ranking person in the bunker, he believes to be in charge, important and powerful. Following the ‘party lines’ and representing the regime, this indoctrinated man fancies himself a poet and a journalist. His army job is to write letters to the families of the fallen soldiers. With this safe position behind his desk, he was never faced with ‘real’ fighting, and therefore is perceived as a coward, acting as if he was important. When he is laughed at or humiliated, he can become extremely dangerous. But the rules of the Outside world do mean nothing inside the bunker.

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 For more information, videos & and press about TRAKTORFABRIK please go to THEATRE 

 

TRAKTORFABRIK

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ACT 2 SCENE 1
After the bombardment our three characters are wearing gas suits

PROT
Am I dead? Are you dead?

FRITZ
No.

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PROT
Are you sure, how can you be sure? Maybe we are both dead?

FRITZ
No.

PROT
He doesn’t move... is he dead?

FRITZ
He is standing...

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PROT
It’s over, it’s over! We are alive!

FRITZ
We need to know where we stand. What happened. What weapons they used.

If we are safe here or if we have to evacuate the Traktorfabrik.

PROT
What is that smell?

FRITZ
Is this enemy territory now? Did the frontline move? We need to make contact. Hear what happened
and how to proceed.

PROT
Gas?! Professor, is there gas? That smell?!

FRITZ
HQ ? HQ this is Traktorfabrik, HQ, HQ, this is Traktorfabrik ...Nothing...

PROT
Shit!? Does gas smell like that? It smells like shit.

FRITZ
We have to get out. We cannot stay here.

PROT

I thought gas didn’t smell? That’s what makes it so dangerous! You can’t see it, you can’t smell it, you
can only die from it.

FRITZ
I don’t think gas smells like shit, unless it’s sulfur and this is hell. Open the doors Lieutenant!
Lieutenant? Open the door, push the button.

PROT
Shit.

FRITZ
No, sulfur

FRITZ
What?

PROT
I shit myself.

FRITZ
Lieutenant?

He is in shell shock. Prot, push the button for the inner vault to open, we have to get to
the outer vault to see what happened on the outside.

PROT
Go outside? I mean maybe it is better to wait, I mean, we don’t know what is outside, at least we
know what is inside. And if there is gas inside there is gas outside?! And if there is no gas inside and
there is gas outside, it will come inside... so what do we do?

FRITZ
The tubes... the tubes have shifted... the wires are dislocated. The buttons don’t respond. Or
something must be blocking the vault mechanism. Nothing works. We have to follow protocol. There
must be a protocol. Lieutenant, Lieutenant, Vova! What’s the protocol?

VOLODJA
I have to write letters, there are casualties, of course, there are casualties. I have to write my mother.
Dear dead mother, there has been a bombing, after a football game. I’m dead, just like you, mother,
so come pick me up. We are all dead. I can smell it. It smells like shit. I have to send this.

FRITZ
Come’on old boy you’re ok, it’s ok, we are not dead. Let’s restore contact with HQ and follow
protocol. We will know what to do. They will come and get us out of here!

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VOLODJA
I feel an idiotic sense of security under the bedcovers as if the sheets and blankets were made of
iron. They say bedding is extremely dangerous... the bits of feather could get so deep in wounds that
it’s impossible to remove them... Gangrene, over and out. But then a time comes when you’re
mortally tired, you stop being afraid. And the only thing you want is a bed cover. I thought I was
going to die and I want to die in a bed. I saw other men, better men giving in to acceptance and
crying under a bedcover.
Look where this position as a letter writer got me, instead of dying on a battlefield and be someone ,
I finish under a bedcover, 27 meters under the ground where everything stinks like shit.

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*all rights reserved, can not be read or performed for an audience or performed without permission.

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