No place for idiots

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Data
Original title: No place for idiots
Genus: Volksstück in three acts
Original language: German
Author: Felix Mitterer
Publishing year: 1977
Premiere: 15th September 1977
Place of premiere: Tyrolean Volksbühne Blaas
Place and time of the action: Mountain farming village

No place for idiots is a play in three acts by Felix Mitterer from 1977. The plot of the folk play describes how a boy is excluded from the village community due to his handicap.

Literary era

Partly following on from old traditions ( Nestroy , Brecht , Horváth ), Austrian authors such as Helmut Qualtinger , Wolfgang Bauer and Felix Mitterer wrote folk pieces after 1945 . These either serve to cope with the National Socialist past or describe the current social reality of marginalized groups.

content

The Möllinger farmers hate their son Sebastian, called Wastl, because he has a disability. Old Plattl-Hans takes the boy in with him. One evening, when he and Sebastian were eating in the village inn, Adi, one of the other guests, was outraged by the old man and the boy. Although his two friends - one of whom is a gendarme - want to reassure him, he doesn't stop teasing. He even asks a German tourist couple whether the old man and his protégé would disturb them. Shortly afterwards, the mayor who owns the inn enters the room. Adi tells him that Plattl-Hans and Sebastian are damaging local tourism and that their presence knocks out all the guests. The landlord is really worried because a new lift will be opened soon and the village is hoping for more guests through tourism. He asks the old man not to come back to his pub with Sebastian.

A few months later, it is now Advent, the two Sebastians celebrate their seventeenth birthday. The old man even wrote a letter to a radio station so that a song could be played for Sebastian at the request concert. Just as Sebastian's song is being played, one of the two men comes into the apartment from the inn. He says that Sebastian had watched a girl bathe and that the villagers now want to put him in an institution. Even the boy's parents would have agreed. Plattl-Hans reproaches himself for neglecting the boy's sexual education. Suddenly the gendarme enters the room to pick up Sebastian. When the boy protests, the gendarme calls two guards to help. The three of them finally lead Sebastian away.

Person overview

Old Plattl-Hans

The old man works on the farm of the Möllinger farmer's wife. He is a contrast to his parents. He is helpful and good-natured and feels sorry for the boy. He is the only one who takes care of the disabled "Wastl". He believes that the boy is perfectly capable of development and he also teaches him to read and write.

The boy (Sebastian, Wastl)

He has been mentally disabled since he was born and lives on his parents' farm. During his youth, he never experienced affection and love. To his parents, he's just a useless eater. When the old man takes care of him, he experiences love and affection for the first time. The boy is accused of sexual harassment. It is not accepted by society.

Möllinger farmer (mother)

The farmer shows no understanding for the handicap of her son. She insults him as "useless eater", "freak" and as a "dead cripple" (in his presence). Corporal punishment by beating is for her the best educational tool for the "no good". She has no understanding for the handicap of her son. “Hate” is the only thing that his mother expresses towards him. She sees the existence of the child as a “punishment from God”.

Landlord (mayor)

He doesn't want Sebastian to come to the inn with the old man anymore. The man is a selfish politician and very superficial. For him, only the economic benefit counts.

Lois (1st guest)

He has no problem with the boy and sees that he can learn and be nice. He also tries to help the old man and Sebastian, but it fails.

Adi (2nd guest)

He has something against the boy and says that Wastl has a bad effect on tourism because it scares people off. Tourism is far more important to Adi than Sebastian. Besides, he doesn't want to see the boy in the inn, because he scares away the guests. Adi sees the boy as a "tourist damage".

Gendarme

The gendarme is neutral and tries to solve the problems with the boy.

German guest

Tourist, doesn’t really act conspicuously. Wants to calm his wife down.

Elfriede (wife of the German guest)

Also has a prejudice against the boy.

backgrounds

Mitterer was inspired to write the piece in a Tyrolean tourist destination in 1974. This happened when a mother and her disabled child were expelled from an inn, as the landlord feared that his business would suffer as a result. The work is set in a small village in Tyrol in the late 1970s. The main theme of the work is the attitude of society towards the disabled and the question of whether they consider them to be fully fledged fellow human beings. With his play he would like to show the discrimination against disabled people in the 1970s. Furthermore, the author tries to remind the reader that there are people among us who need special help. People who cannot cope with their problems on their own. However, one of the main aims of his work is to shock the reader. Often a person is only considered to be of full value if he can do any meaningful activity or work.

Reference to the present

Today, most people's minds about the disabled have changed, but many people see the disabled as being useless or a person who is less valuable. That's why the piece is still very relevant today.

Text output