German actor and playwright Rainer Sievert, 43, has lived in France for almost 20 years, so has been keenly aware of the historical relationship between the neighboring countries. This has lead to him writing and performing in a new play, France-Allemagne, set on a sofa and featuring two men — one French, one German — watching the 1982 World Cup semifinal between the two countries.
"For many French people, this lost game still has a post-traumatic effect today," he said of the game, which Germany won on penalties after a 3-3 tie. The game was most famous for the incident in the second half when German goalkeeper Toni Schumacher flattened and badly injured oncoming French forward Patrick Battiston, some say deliberately, although Schumacher always denied it. The incident, astonishingly, went unpunished by the referee.
"I was moved by the injustice of soccer," said Sievert. "The Germans played a s****y World Cup. Our play is multi-leveled. On one level it's about soccer. On another it's personal — for example Jocelyn [the French character] tells how he kissed a German exchange student for the first time. And on a third level it's about the massive history of both countries, which molds us all." The play is described as tragi-comic, and Sievert says the tragedy is "the millions of war deaths that stand between our two countries."
The Schumacher-Battiston incident is also played out on stage. "That moment where Schumacher ignores the prostrate Battiston while chewing gum and bouncing the ball is very much present in our play. We have tried to write a play about winning and losing: the victors write history, but the stories of the losers are often more interesting."