Ulrich Waller »The Accidental Death of Christian K« (Malersaal)
queer.de writes about it: The “Peep Show for Cops” as a play at the Hamburg Schauspielhaus The scandal not only influenced socio-political consciousness but also stimulated creativity. As early as December 1980, the events were taken up in a play. In “The Accidental Death of Christian K.,” director Ulrich Waller critically examined the power of police officers in 20 short scenes. Here, they are “confronted with their stupidity and criminality; their perversions are exposed to ridicule” (“Du & Ich,” March 1981, p. 48). In all the scenes, Waller drew on real events, which he portrayed in a satirically exaggerated manner. The short scene “Peepshow for Cops” centers on the police officers Oskar and Heinz, who have been sitting behind bathroom mirrors in Hamburg for 16 years, observing homosexuals. The play was performed in the “Malersaal” of the Deutsches Schauspielhaus in Hamburg, which serves as a rehearsal and experimental stage and is known for presenting the “more unusual and daring plays.” As a satirical reflection from the perspective of fictional police officers, this theatrical scene resembles Felix Rexhausen’s satire “On Duty” (printed in his book “Die Märchenklappe,” 1982, pp. 63–67), which consists of a fictional monologue by a police officer on duty with his colleague. Part of their professional duties is to closely observe the men on the other side of the mirror: Is that gentleman just shaking it off, or is he already jerking off? At one point, the police officer says to his colleague, who is reading the “Bild” newspaper: “As if there weren’t more important things for people like us to do! Whether these gay pigs are groping each other here or somewhere else, it doesn’t give a damn—they’re doing it anyway.” One almost feels sorry for the police officers, but this satire isn’t aimed at eliciting empathy for the law enforcement officers; rather, it points out that something is wrong with this constitutional state.