Maria

(2025)

The play Maria tells a story of migration, guest workers and working conditions. For three years, Maria A. from Slatina-Timiș, Romania, worked in Vorarlberg, Austria, travelling 20 hours by minibus from a provincial village to Feldkirch every four weeks. She devoted herself to caring for the central figure in a foreign family, then spent another month caring for her own family.

The play explores a woman's life between devotion and exploitation, between adaptation and extreme pressure. The focus is always on loving care and professional dedication to other people. Where does Maria's personal life fit in, what does she have left, where does she disappear to amid all the care, sacrifice and devotion? The focus is both on a close look at a specific person and on the larger context of European economic inequalities, which affect women in particular.

A play about care, migration, devotion and death with dance, drama, music and a road movie.

Directed by Brigitte Walk (walktanztheater).
Camera road movie: Céline Meier.
Editing & Photography: Sarah Mistura.
Acting: Simona Vintilă.
Dance: Marina Rützler.
Music: Philomena Juen.

Performed in Feldkirch, Austria, Altes Hallenbad & Hohenems, Austria, Salomon-Sulzer-Saal, as well as in Timișoara, Romania, at the German State Theatre & Teatrul Basca.

All photos: © Sarah Mistura