Top Dogs

Widmer's king's drama about the culture of dismissal is being performed all over the world.

The topic couldn't be more pressing: it is called structural unemployment - the dilemma of Western industrial and affluent societies. However, unlike usual, the subject is approached from a completely different angle. This is not about underdogs, but about top dogs. Specifically, it concerns high-level managers who have been laid off due to global restructuring and who have now come together in a Zurich outplacement office for shock absorption, processing their disappointment, and later professional reintegration.

The change in perspective is crucial. What is presented is a king's drama of the economy, not a piece about ordinary people. This elevates the play out of the gray areas of typical social reporting, providing surprising insights and humor: a little schadenfreude, of course, is also present - it is somewhat comforting to know that those at the top can be affected at any time. Laughing, thoroughly entertained, but also repeatedly feeling uneasy, we understand: something is rotten, not just in the state of Helvetia; a rather predatory capitalism is making its way worldwide - its inhumanity poorly disguised behind the phraseological facades of a dynamic neoliberalism; people are becoming increasingly unnecessary unless they are needed as consumers; managers must not only dismiss their subordinates but ultimately themselves as well - this is the grotesque logic of the economy. Globalization devours its children.