Can you perform a novel on stage and sing as part of it? Sure—perhaps not the entire book in one evening, but a few scenes can definitely work. Henri Maximilian Jakobs, who published the novel “Paradisiacal States” in 2023 with Kiepenheuer & Witsch, has distilled this truly moving story about a harrowing journey of self-discovery and gender transition down to one and a half hours of stage time, enriched with abundant music, and finally gifted a delighted, applause-hungry premiere audience with two encores: a loaf of bread kneaded on stage and baked fresh, and, last but not least, a dance number.
Jakobs has long been associated with Berlin’s Schaubühne am Lehniner Platz as a musician and actor. Now the stage adaptation of “Paradisiacal States” premiered in the Ku’damm 156 hall, directly beside the Schaubühne’s main building, as a one-man show in which Jakobs portrays Johann, the trans man from the novel—and essentially plays himself, that is, his coming out and his transition.
A Long-Distance Runner Toward the Self
The novel would certainly not have become what it is if not for the author’s own trans experiences. It matters little which episodes are fiction or authentic history. The same goes for the stage version, which centers on the arduous path of self-discovery, culminating in the realization of being trans, and is ultimately legitimized by the person delivering deeply meaningful songs and telling jokes with a mix of laid-back and biting wit while sitting under a parasol or kneading dough.
Johann, the novel’s hero and now the stage hero in an oversized knit sweater and shorts, presents himself as a marathon runner toward the self, reminding us how challenging the realization of one’s trans identity can be before finally grasping which gendered field is right for him. Until then, Johann Moves through the beach scene and across the toxic-green artificial turf as a “walking spelling mistake” and a kind of “fake packaging” not only in that setting. Life can feel like the graffiti message on the wall—absolutely shitty.
Yet Johann, through the detour of a psychiatric hospital, finally finds his way forward—as trans biographies so often describe it—his path to himself. At the end of the road, names and gender entry are changed under the Transsexuals Act, and Johann is free to move about as a legally recognized man in his new life.
Novel Passages and Songs in Alternation
The stage version alternates between passages from the novel and songs, with Jakobs picking up the guitar and asking, for instance, “What does the world want from you?” or, at the end, posing another question with the song by the band Against Me!: “Does God bless your transsexual heart true trans soul rebel?”
In the novel passages, the hero’s frustration is wrapped in biting humor, with all his despair painted in wordplay and vivid imagery. Yet all that negativity is balanced by the real life that Johann, both in the novel and now on stage, and Jakobs himself have found.
But since we are in a theater, there’s no need to feel guilty for having enjoyed ourselves. After all, depth doesn’t exclude entertainment. Jakobs, as both author and stage performer, ensures that balance. Congratulations!
Die nächsten Vorstellungen: 3., 4., 5., 10., 11. und 12. Oktober sowie 15. und 16. November 2025 im Saal Ku’damm 156 / Schaubühne am Lehniner Platz
