The Weekend

After 18 years in prison for his activities with a left-wing militant group, Jens is a free man. His sister Tina invites friends to her country estate, ostensibly to welcome him home. Summoned are a former comrade who has written a tell-all book: Jens’ former lover Inga and her husband, a successful Berlin chef. Inga’s teenage daughter Doro shows up uninvited, thinking her mom’s ex sounds like a dangerously cool gangster. But Jens is a brooding, intense man who clings to his radical ideas and remains obsessed with discovering who turned him in. While his friends chatter over wine, he smokes under a tree alone. Doro can’t fathom such dedication to a cause: “Did you guys really believe all that stuff? What would it have changed?” When an agitated stranger accosts Jens, he’s forced to articulate his position. Based on a novel by Bernhard Schlink (author of The Reader), this engrossing chamber play asks whether it takes more courage to hew to our convictions or reconsider them. (In German with subtitles) – B.B.