by Toks Körner

I want them to learn about the truth from the other party because they won’t believe me.

Tomo is waiting for the magistrate. Marc is searching for the right tie for his inaugural lecture. Two brothers. Back in the day when he couldn’t yet swim, Tomo tried to appease the sea by rapping; his brother Marc set out to live an impeccable life: family, career, tie. Two paths to meet the challenges of life. Or not. Wanting to fulfill society’s norms may be just as absurd as the attempt to sweet-talk the sea.

Now Tomo is in prison. Instead of help there is doubt. Instead of a charge there is public prejudgment in the headlines. Instead of the father there’s the brother. And instead of the independent magistrate there is Steven.

The past accumulates in the cell, layers of what is repressed condense the walls. And while the scope of movement becomes smaller, guilt weighs down with pressing questions regarding one’s own culpability and that of society. Because: what are the roles society has to offer? What kinds of relationships are possible within it? What self-perceptions?

Walking Large presents three men, their doubts and their social environment. Walking Large is a relationship drama portrait of society. By Black German men. With this play that was developed after being commissioned by Ballhaus Naunynstraße, actor and screenwriter Toks Körner makes his debut as a playwright. It is a long overdue, contemporary, self- determined representation of Black Men on a German scene. With the production Walking Large, the theatre turns into a place where Black histories and their representations become visible, and into a space where Black positioning finds resonance.