Ex

A tragicomedy by a German playwright with a huge reputation. Mayenburg's plays are regularly presented with great success, as they are multi-layered, scathing texts, tapping into contemporary moods and themes with unprecedented sharpness, but balanced into forms that are very attractive to the audience.

Ex is the first part of Mayenburg's free trilogy, in the Czech Republic. not yet listed. After all, also in the case of Ex, it will be the Czech premiere, which will take place on May 14, 2026.

The play is based on the precise dialogue of the married couple Daniel and Sibilla. Both have successful careers. Together they raise two children and live a basically unproblematic upper-middle-class life. However, the problem-free relationship stagnates strongly and its emptiness deepens. Something ugly is bubbling under the surface of their relationship. When Daniel's ex-girlfriend calls one evening asking for help, many feelings, grievances, and mutual marital animosity begin to surface. When Francizska, Daniel's ex, shows up at the door, there is no going back.

The tragicomic drama is a well-constructed text offering three distinct acting opportunities. It can be a truly digging probe into the relationship of a married couple, where in one night it summarizes the entire development of the cohabitation of a man and a woman, from the beginnings of love flare-ups to the rotting swamp, from which the bubbles of the past spring up and burst under the light of reality. Mayenburg built the foundations of a "kitchen drama/comedy", on which layers of down-to-earthness, psychological density, but also philosophical lightness are piled.

The chamber tragicomic drama was presented in Stockholm at the Riksteater theater in 2021, the German premiere at the Berlin Schaubühne took place in March 2025 under the author's direction.