Extrawurst

About this event

The Frankfurt Comedy Theatre stages 'Extrawurst', a satire by Dietmar Jacobs and Moritz Netenjakob, whose credits include TV comedies like 'Stromberg'. The setting is the annual general meeting of a local tennis club in the German provinces. What starts as a formality – voting on a new barbecue – explodes when someone suggests buying a separate grill for the club’s Turkish member, because practising Muslims cannot cook sausages on a rack that has touched pork. The well-meant proposal quickly becomes a lightning rod for tensions around identity, tolerance, and German Leitkultur. The cast (Martin Armknecht, Madeleine Niesche, Mehmet M. Yılmaz, Maximilian Claus, Thomas Jansen) deliver rapid-fire repartee under Stefan Schneider’s direction. The set by Tom Grasshof evokes a wood-panelled clubhouse, with costumes by Monika Seidl. The audience are treated as club members present at the meeting, putting them right in the middle of the squabble as atheists and believers, liberals and hardliners clash. What unfolds is less a conventional play than a stream of punchy one-liners and escalating absurdity, mirroring how quickly a civil society can tear itself apart – all over a barbecue. It’s fast, funny, and squarely aimed at anyone who enjoys sharp social comedy.