Ms. Yamamoto is still here: Great stage art about closeness and moving on

An open door against loneliness: Ms. Yamamoto is still here

On December 5, 2026, the State Theatre of Augsburg presents Dea Loher's play Ms. Yamamoto is still here on the stage of the martini-Park. The direction by Nina Mattenklotz tells with ease, melancholy, and fine humor about people who lose access to each other in the rhythm of modern life – and might find it again.

Twenty scenes about closeness, loss, and moving on

At the center are Nino and Erik, a couple whose relationship wobbles between everyday life, alienation, and unspoken questions about the future. Above them lives Ms. Yamamoto, who leaves her front door open, creating a silent counterimage to societal isolation. Around this constellation, Dea Loher unfolds an episodic dramaturgy of encounters in apartments, staircases, restaurants, bars, and other transitional spaces of life.

The individual scenes revolve around love, death, environment, memory, food, and the question of how human connection can succeed in an accelerated world. The play was premiered in 2024 and was chosen as the play of the year in 2025 in the critic's survey of the trade magazine Theater heute.

A production between outer space and everyday life

Nina Mattenklotz's direction meets Loher's poetic polyphony with a floating stage aesthetic. Figures appear and disappear, individual situations are zoomed in on through video. The stage design by Johanna Pfau places the characters in a peculiar in-between world where everyday comedy and existential questions stand side by side.

Puppets with expressive masks become silent companions of the events. Light, projections, and spatial division give the stage experience a variable acoustics and atmosphere: sometimes intimate like a conversation at an apartment door, sometimes vast and distant like a gaze into the night sky.

Acting with wit and quiet shock

The ensemble quickly transforms into different, sometimes nameless figures. Alongside the central roles of Ms. Yamamoto, Nino, and Erik, a panorama of human encounters arises, which consciously keeps the boundaries between tragedy, comedy, and absurd everyday life permeable. The acting thrives on precise gestures, surprising shifts in perspective, and a humor that does not sugarcoat even heavy topics.

Musical moments with piano, melodica, and singing add additional accents. Thus, the production develops a fragile balance of joy of life, farewells, and the comforting notion that a person continues to exist in the memories of others.

A theatre evening about what remains

Ms. Yamamoto is still here connects contemporary drama with visually powerful direction and finely crafted ensemble performance. The audience can expect a poetic stage experience about loneliness, compassion, and the courage to keep a door open. Those who experience theatre as a resonance space for societal questions and personal feelings will find an evening full of wit, warmth, and resonance in the martini-Park.

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Sources:

• State Theatre of Augsburg – Schedule
• State Theatre of Augsburg – Drama Season 2026/27
• Augsburg City – Play Information
• Die Augsburger Zeitung – Performance Review
• Süddeutsche Zeitung – Review of the Production
• Operabase – Production and Schedule Information