hässliches tennis
Theaterstück von Johannes Hoffmann
With "Ugly Tennis," I am participating in the European project "Future Narratives for Planet Earth" in 2026, and in 2025 I was a fellow at the National Theater Stockholm
Kim and Mika live for the tennis court. Their daily lives are well-honed, immaculate, and aesthetically perfected. Creamy white, terry cloth, discipline, style – tennis is not just a sport, but a way of life, a code of conduct and a philosophy. In this glossy world, everything seems stable, clean and under control. Yet the tennis club where Mika and Kim train has long since seen better days. Victories are few and far between, successes are a thing of the past, and you’d search in vain for a place in the world rankings.
For Kim, the problem lies in a lack of discipline. So they train harder than ever before. But Mika lacks concentration. Mika seems distracted, as if drawn to something outside the world of tennis. For the tennis club is falling apart more and more. More and more beetles and insects are crawling across the green artificial turf; insects are buzzing in the floodlights. A vast fungal mycelium, which has spread underground, is coming to the surface…