Christine Eixenberger – Einbildungsfreiheit

The Deutsches Theater München presents a cabaret evening with Christine Eixenberger for the benefit of Aktion Sonnenschein.

Freedom of imagination

The award-winning cabaret artist Christine Eixenberger is also known to television audiences as Marie Reiter, protagonist of the ZDF series Marie fängt Feuer. In her programme Einbildungsfreiheit (Freedom of Imagination) she tells witty stories about burghers and damsels, about the power of markets and her search for that one, mystical, most Bavarian of all places: the ominous “Dahoam”. And all this for a good cause: the proceeds of the cabaret evening will go to Aktion Sonnenschein, which has been working for inclusion in practice for over 50 years.

Involuntarily looking for a flat

It all begins with biblical water damage: Driven out of her own four walls by fabled mushroom colonies and not-so-brisk tradesmen, Christine Eixenberger sets off on an odyssey through the jungles of large and small towns. The cabaret artist presents a panopticon that could not be more romantic: During her involuntary search for a flat, she is ensnared by estate agents and house owners who all behave like feudal lords of a bygone era. “I’ll be so free then…!“ Christine Eixenberger thinks to herself and encounters the would-be monarchs of the modern age with her usual fearlessness, power of voice and eloquence, steeled by countless handicraft lessons and primary school class trips.

From teacher to cabaret artist

Christine Eixenberger is a full-blooded entertainer who cannot deny her educational past as a qualified primary school teacher. She wears her heart on her sleeve, her red pen in her hand and her recess gong in her ear. The latter is always better than tinnitus. From teacher to cabaret artist and actress – not much has changed, says Christine Eixenberger: “You just have to get through the morning.” In 2019, she was awarded the Bavarian Cabaret Prize in the category “Senkrechtstarter”. The jury’s statement: “Young, radiant, cheeky – and very Bavarian. In three solo programmes, the qualified primary school teacher has already proved that she can dish it out just as uninhibitedly as she can relentlessly and expose bourgeois sensitivities. …” Christine Eixenberger is also known to television audiences in her role as Marie Reiter, protagonist of the ZDF family series Marie fängt Feuer.

The sunshine campaign

The paediatrician Prof. Dr. Hellbrügge not only revolutionised paediatrics and the German health system. In order to effectively help his young patients beyond therapy, he founded the world’s first school over 50 years ago in which children with and without special needs were taught together according to Maria Montessori’s principles. Decades before the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities came into force. “The Aktion Sonnenschein institutions have long since become national and international pioneers and role models for inclusion in practice,” says Munich’s Lord Mayor Dieter Reiter.

And Christine Eixenberger is also enthusiastic and convinced about the work that has been done here for many years. She has therefore also taken on the sponsorship of the institution’s own theatre project. “Passion, individuality, curiosity, cohesion and the necessary mischievousness. I see all of this when I look into the eyes of the children and teachers who make the Mon Theatre what it is. And that’s exactly what it takes to be able to live and love theatre,” she writes in the commemorative publication for the 50th anniversary of Aktion Sonnenschein. And she continues: “You, dear Mon Theatre, find common ground despite everything that seems to divide us. You write cohesion large despite all adversity – that is what is needed especially in these wild times when hatred, agitation, fear and insecurity seem to have the upper hand. Thank you, dear Mon Theatre, for allowing me to be your godmother.“