Silent money

How much is enough? Who gets to dream – and who has to do the maths? Between Killwangen, Baden and the Fricktal, a quiet but pressing question arises: what financial realities shape life in Aargau? In STILLES GELD, radikal plüsch brings one of the last great taboos of our society into the spotlight – money. Against a backdrop of debt burdens and the shame of inheritance, sustainable lifestyles and unpaid overtime, a moving, musical play unfolds about the reality behind the figures.

The canton of Aargau is regarded as stable, down-to-earth, a place of balance. And yet over 11,000 people here live on social security. Poverty is less visible, less concentrated, but no less real, with over 10% of the population at risk of poverty. It is spread across towns and parishes, disappearing behind façades, in commuter flows, in statistics – even in Baden. At the same time, most of the canton’s millionaires live here. Baden thus becomes a symbol of an inequality that is mostly kept hidden. Here we see just how much belonging is also negotiated through money: who can afford security – and who lives from month to month?

STILLES GELD is a play about fear and abundance, about shame, hope and the everyday contradictions in dealing with possessions, renunciation and consumption. It asks who can afford a better world and who falls through the social safety net. Money divides, it connects – and often determines more than we care to believe.

The production was developed by radikal plüsch – Sabine Harbeke and Alexander Stutz, whose collaborative work spans text, staging and research. Also appearing on stage are, among others, Sophie Hutter (ZAUBERBERG – EXPEDITION IN DIE GEGENWART) and Josef Mohamed (ZWEI HERREN VON REAL MADRID), already familiar to audiences at the Kurtheater from previous productions.