Christmas Eve

The philosophy professor Judith is being interrogated by the police officer Thomas. He has evidence suggesting that Judith has placed a bomb with her ex-husband, which is set to go off at midnight on this very Christmas Eve. Does this bomb exist? And if so, where is it? The officer has only 90 minutes to find out. It is Christmas Eve. The philosophy professor Judith is on her way to her parents' house when the police force her taxi to a stop. She is taken to the station. Why? She does not find out at first. Instead, Officer Thomas asks her questions: "Where were you last night?" Is this an interrogation? And how does he know so much about her? For example, that her ex-husband was with her last night. This all feels very unsettling to Judith. He even knows about her academic work and eventually confronts her with her habilitation thesis on "Frantz Fanon's Concept of Revolutionary Violence," which discusses the right of the oppressed to defend themselves with violence. Thomas has evidence that Judith, together with her ex-husband, has placed a bomb in a central location, which is supposed to go off at midnight on this Christmas Eve. Does this bomb exist? And if so, where is it hidden? The officer has only 90 minutes to find out. Author Daniel Kehlmann has created a thrilling drama about love and betrayal in times of uncertainty with this interrogation, which unfolds like a duel. His intention, as Kehlmann describes in an interview, was "to show a real dilemma... between freedom on one side and security on the other." Ultimately, it raises the much deeper question of distribution justice. A play by Daniel Kehlmann.