Whistleblowerin/ Elektra

Documentary theater with opera
Subtitled in English

When Yasmine Motarjemi starts her job as Corporate Food Safety Manager in Vevey, she is highly motivated, well trained, and her expertise internationally recognized. Anyone working in food safety has to be precise. The specifications that are developed have a global impact; at best, mistakes cause stomachaches, at worst, children die. The fact that there are headwinds in a listed company is part of the job. Then headwinds turn into mobbing: Her work is made impossible, she continues to work, gives warnings, keeps going. At some point, a notice of termination is on the table. And a offer for an end-of-contract gratuity. She will not take the money. 15 years later, the court rules in her favor. A woman takes the world’s largest food company to court, alone. Like the ancient Elektra from Strauß’ opera, she can’t keep quiet about wrongdoing. But whistleblowing has its toll.

Mona Somm can sing a song about it – an aria, to be precise, that is considered one of the most challenging in the history of music. An evening with and about women who open their mouths.

The interplay of acting and sprinklings of opera takes on an urgency, a tragic grandeur, because in the music all the emotionality can come out, which the manager Yasmin Motarjemi forbids herself. Sascha Özlem Soydan plays it very strongly, very forcefully – this ugly business story can really get to you. (SRF 2 Kultur)

Photo: Njazi Nivokazi