Theater play “Just One Day" by Martin Baltscheit

The room is a cardboard box. Inside are stools, a cloth, a candle. Three women in unsettling institutional clothing enter an unreal world.
Here in this seating circle with a designed center, they are to be helped: In a group therapy for women who have chosen against their pregnancy. As they wait for the session to begin, they start to share their stories. Where does self-determination over their lives end, where does society's right to judge them begin? Here, it is said, everything can be said. The cardboard box with its designed center: their safe space. Whether the women perceive it this way is questionable.
A piece of timeless societal relevance: “We are living in dangerous times,” say the authors Gundula von Trebitsch, “as we risk societal and social developments orienting themselves to attitudes long before the regulation discussions of the 1970s.” Hole in the Belly thus addresses a still prevailing taboo, as women who choose against their pregnancy are subjected to a questionable societal judgment. “No woman,” the author states, “decides on an abortion out of whim. Through condemnation, many women affected are denied the opportunity to mourn their child.” Facades and Abysses The 21-year-old Lena Druckeschitz embodies Silvie, an educated educator who wants to be a rapper. “I see Silvie as a very broken person,” says the young actress, “who hides behind a facade to avoid being hurt even more.” The character of Mona represents for Kristina Flecker a personality who always tries to make the best of everything. “Mona is very impressive,” says Kristina Flecker, “as she manages her life for herself and her children while remaining courageous.” Finally, Barbara Persterer embodies the manager Theresa. “This character is concerned with nothing less than survival. How can one continue when the ground opens up beneath them, when the self is shaken to its very foundations? When a hole in the belly is supposed to heal an even greater wound?”
The stories told in Hole in the Belly are all based on authentic characters and cases.