Sick Dogs

Poch the greyhound is one of the most successful racing dogs in the world, a bona fide star of the track. But then one day, a brain condition causes her to simply keel over. She wakes up in the dog hospital, surrounded by a flurry of vets desperately puzzling over her diagnosis. Then the Hellcat appears, offering the dog’s brain a valuable and supposedly healing trade: pain relief for half a life. Poch isn’t convinced, and is left struggling with an overburdened hospital system and with her own frail body. Ultimately, she sees no option but to accept the deal with the Hellcat. But the renowned hospital is broke and urgently needs a major research coup, and Poch seems to be the ideal test subject. And so begins a wrestle between the vets and the Hellcat over a vulnerable, weakened body that is actually already worthless...

Ariane Koch's play tells the story of our exhausted society and of the absurdities of our healthcare system. A tour de force packed full of linguistic wit that touches on a question that has been particularly pressing since the outbreak of the pandemic: What do we do with all these sick bodies?

»In Sick Dogs, Ariane Koch has created a fable with the properties of a thriller.« Jurgen Reus, nachtkritik.de