Beyond Caring

Three women and two men meet in a meat factory loading area. The night shift is about to begin when they will start work. Their job: cleaning the factory. None of them has met previously. They are hired on various contracts: Michael is a part-time permanent employee of the factory; Sonja and Becky are agency subcontractors; Ava is there on a job centre scheme. Their foreman is Jan. Every night, for two weeks, they have a break every four hours when they eat together, leaf through magazines and chat. As dawn breaks, they return home, or go on to their next job. And so it goes, day in, day out. On and on. Until something changes – until some of these lonely people suddenly get too close to each other, and far too quickly.

Alexander Zeldin developed his play via research into the cleaning and meat-packing industries, his own experiences as a cleaner and by involving actual cleaning staff in the rehearsal process. Unsparingly honest, but also warm-hearted and with a laconic sense of humour, he brings the stories of people from an invisible class to the stage.

Alexander Zeldin is a British playwright and director. He is Associate Director at the National Theatre London and Associate Artist of the Théâtre de l’Odéon in Paris. His work encompasses both theatre and film and has taken him to Russia, South Korea, Europe and the Middle East. His play »LOVE« was a guest production at FIND in the autumn of 2021. At the Schaubühne he is now working with actors from our ensemble for the first time to stage a German-language version of his play »Beyond Caring« which premiered in London in 2014.