Marga von Etzdorf and Melli Beese

An obituary by Maja Das Gupta

ONLY FLYING is a fringe-writers production.

A fringe-writers production ofthe fringe ensemble in co-production with Theater Rampe Stuttgart and theaterimballsaal Bonn

With: Bettina Marugg and Petra Weimer/Laila Nielsen
Director: Frank Heuel
Room/Costumes: Annika Ley
Dramaturgy: Svenja Pauka

Premiere in Bonn: May 02, 2012 at theaterimballsaal

They are two true heroes of the last century: the two pilots Melli Beese and Marga von Etzdorf have sought a life in spheres beyond a utilitarian logic and tell of their experiences there, as well as of their failures.

For both women, flying was their purpose in life. Both chose suicide when they suspected, after crash landings, that they would never again be entrusted with a plane. Marga shot herself while still at the airfield. Her tombstone bears the inscription: The flight is worth the life. Melli Beese, in turn, in an obituary for a pilot who had perished, uttered the words: Flying is necessary. Life not.

In “Just Flying,” the two women meet. What is this choice they have made? The search for the perfect moment, the overcoming of gravity? How can something constitute one’s life and destroy it at the same time?

Maja Das Gupta writes radio plays and plays for children and adults, has received various awards and has been invited to the Berlin Stückemarkt, among others. World premieres of her dramas took place at the Staatstheater Wiesbaden, Zimmertheater Tübingen, Stadttheater Heilbronn, tig7 in Mannheim and at the Neuköllner Oper in Berlin. “Only Flying” is her first work for the fringe ensemble.

A production of Nur Fligend GbR/fringe ensemble. Sponsored by: Federal City of Bonn and Ministry for Family, Children, Youth, Culture and Sports of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia.