DER FISKUS

In the organizer's words:

In an ailing tax office somewhere in Germany, civil servant Nele Neuer has just been promoted to head of department. Her colleague Bea Mtinnen is ten years older and knows everything there is to know about the office and tax law. She can look back on many years of professional experience and feels that she has been deprived of the management position she believes she deserves. Elfi Nanzen is also part of Nele's team and is extremely strict in her handling of all cases; she only waves through the ones she doesn't understand. Her colleague and husband Reiner Lös would actually have preferred to become a singer-songwriter. The couple enjoy making the most of their personal tax relief opportunities. The meticulous tax auditor Anna Parat, on the other hand, always turns up at the right moment and makes tax evaders big and small tremble before the might of the law.

When Bea discovers evidence of a large-scale cum-ex fraud, Nele is keen to present the investigation of the case as her own success, as she has a vested interest in the overall management of the tax office. Meanwhile, the law firm METZGER & MAI tries to sabotage Bea's investigation with threats. How long will the experienced civil servant be able to withstand the pressure?

In her play Der Fiskus, which premiered in 2020, Felicia Zeller depicts a community of fate made up of civil servants in a system permeated by bureaucratic madness. Short and long official channels, questions about tax loopholes and careers in higher ranks merge in Zeller's linguistic virtuosity into a quick-witted satire on the tax system.