No more silence

In the small, 88-seat Turmtheater in the German city of Regensburg, a man clutching a sleeping young boy frantically bursts onto the stage, beginning the tense, hour-long drama "The Confession."

The man is Martin, played by actor Michael Haake. As an orphan under church care, Martin was a victim of sexual abuse at the hands of a priest, and he has started abusing his own son, Sebastian. He has decided the only way out is for them both to die, after he confronts the man who was both comforter and tormentor - Father Eberhard, performed by actor Miko Greza.

But in a line that provokes gasps and uncomfortable laughter from the audience, Father Eberhard declares that many children have experienced this and grown up to be perfectly normal adults. "I ask myself: what's so terrible about it?" he says.

That question is becoming more and more relevant, especially in Regensburg. The beautiful historic town in southern Bavaria was once Pope Benedict's diocese, and his brother Georg Ratzinger was the leader of the city's famed boys' choir for decades.

The well-regarded Domspatzen, or Regensburg Cathedral Choir, became the target of unwanted attention in March, when charges of abuse in the 1970s and 1980s surfaced concerning boarding schools tied to the choir. None of the accusations relate to Georg Ratzinger, who has said he was unaware of such incidents.

The diocese has encouraged victims to come forward, but Regensburg's bishop has focused his critiques on media coverage of the scandal, rather than on any Church wrongdoings.

The right play at the right time

Theater Regensburg's staging of "The Confession" (Die Beichte) started its run in February, a week before Ash Wednesday. It closed right before Easter. However, according to chief dramaturge Friederike Bernau, it had already been discussed by the staff for years.

"The Confession" was written by Austrian writer Felix Mitterer, inspired by events in Ireland. It was first performed in 2003 as a radio play. Theater Regensburg added it to the schedule more than a year ago, and the play had its premiere around the same time as revelations about abuse in Germany came to light.

Greza, who plays the priest, says the coincidence of events is forunate.

"That the right play came at the right time is for us, of course, in terms of our work - a stroke of luck that rarely happens in the theater," said Greza. "That at exactly this point in time, both nationally and internationally, people had the courage to come forth and say: 'this has happened - this has happened to me.'"

Greza has received letters from theatergoers who say they appreciated his performance, but were too stunned at the end of the show to applaud. For its part, St. Peter's Cathedral in Regensburghas been mum on the subject of the play, despite its close proximity - it is just steps away from the theater.

"Maybe you noticed the cathedral - it's very close," said Haake. "You can almost reach out and touch it from here."

Dramaturge Bernau said her idea in putting on the play was to give a voice to those people who needed one.

"We just wanted to tell the story because the victims constantly experience being forced into silence," said Bernau. "There have been cases where some kind of financial compensation for the pain and suffering has been made, but this then quickly becomes a hush-money agreement. You'll get compensation but you're never allowed to speak about these things publicly."

"This sentences the victim once again to a punishment of silence and sends him to back to this psychological prison - and this is what we want to scream out about," she added.

Ripping off the cloak of silence

The Regensburg community wants this scream to be heard, and several of the final performances of "The Confession" were completely sold out, despite the difficult themes in the play.

Throughout the one-hour performance, Martin and Father Eberhard are in conflict, verbally as well as physically. They climb under, over and on top of a giant wooden cross that diagonally bisects the stage as accusations fly and a sad story is told.

It is an intense, uncomfortable experience for audience members like 29-year-old Thomas Rother. Rother is Catholic, and is not happy with his church's response to allegations of abuse.

"It's a difficult topic with the church," said Rother. "I think true belief and the church cannot always be linked. But what I find difficult is the cloak of silence - it seems like they'd rather cloak the whole issue in silence than find out the truth. That's what has disappointed me about the church."

Rother hopes that the media will continue to cover the issue after the scandal dies down.

Stories of abuse have dominated the media of late, with almost daily reports of physical or sexual misconduct seemingly the norm. But the church reform organization Wir Sind Kirche (We are the Church) has been concerned with these issues since 1995.

"Never before has sexual abuse been such a theme in public, and speaking about what has happened to the victims," said the group's founder, Sigrid Grabmeier.

In 2002, Wir Sind Kirche started a hotline for victims of abuse by priests. So far, more than 400 people have called - at least 100 in just the last two months. Grabmeier is a bit worried that the topic might soon suffer from overexposure, and people will cease to care about it.

But generally she welcomes the continuing media coverage and Theater Regensburg's staging of "The Confession," for which she served as an adviser.

She believes public discussion of abuse, and any discomfort it brings, could be a necessary agent for change. As an example, she cites the fact that Germany's Catholic Church opened its own telephone hotline earlier this month and received thousands of calls in only a few days.

"If our society needs the pain, then this play may be hurtful and helpful," said Grabmeier. "And I hope that they'll play it on many stages in Germany - not only here in Regensburg. I think that all the bishops and a lot of people should see it."

"The Confession" ended its current run but there will be another chance to see it in Regensburg soon. The Theater Regensburg will do a special performance during the Bavarian theater festival on June 28, 2010.

Author: Susan Stone

Editor: Jennifer Abramsohn