LELE

for Julia Jäger and Matthias Habich

A man writes a thank-you note. A woman answers. That's how it starts.

“Lélé” is the fictional exchange of letters between two people who could not be more different, nor could they live.

An elderly widower thanks for the result of an online order — a custom-made dog collar with an embroidered name, “Oskarla.”

The person responsible for this work — the detainee in a correctional facility — answers rather surprisingly.

The dog collar is part of the range of products on the “Mit Haftung” website.

The initially formal dialogue soon becomes more, the exchange of two very idiosyncratic characters who neither address their mutual loss nor their respective imprisonment... but still always let you feel them.

And who have a lot to give themselves until there is nothing more to lose.

“Lélé” was literally aimed at stage and film stars Matthias Habich and Julia Jäger. Both have in turn made history several times, with classics such as Fritz Umgelter's “The Strange Life Story of Friedrich Freiherr von der Trenck” or Detlev Buck's “Karniggels”, on stages from Vienna to Leipzig, with Oscars for “Nowhere in Africa” and “Toyland” and once even together, in the television epic “Klemperer — A Life in Germany.”

For “Lélé,” Julia Jäger and Matthias Habich meet for the first time on stage, in particular in the Bruckner foyer of the Berlin Renaissance Theatre.

The radio drama version of LÉLÉ, first broadcast on HR2-Kultur on March 30, was honored as “Radio Play of the Month May 2025” by the Academy of Performing Arts from the wide range of radio plays on ARD, Deutschlandradio, SRF and ORF. The radio play was also played by Julia Jäger and Mathias Habich.

Quote from the jury: “... In addition, the author creates portraits of two individualists. Everyone lonely in their own way. Matthias Habich plays Gerhard, the former teacher and widower, with a good dose of cheekiness and self-irony. Julia Jäger speaks velvety and clearly foreshadows the sensitivity that lies under a hard shell. They're both doing great. With humor, melancholy and longing, the rapprochement of two characters is described, who gradually develop their characters and life stories. ”

(Laila Stieler, screenwriter, audio drama writer, dramaturge and film producer; Sebastian Krumbiegel, musician and author; host broadcaster: MDR)

In the foyer