Theater Espelkamp - Miss Daisy und ihr Chauffeur

Miss Daisy and her chauffeur

Atlanta, Georgia, 1948: Miss Daisy is a 72-year-old retired school teacher. After she causes an accident with her car, her son Boolie buys her a new car and takes the precaution of hiring Hoke Coleburn as her chauffeur. Hoke, who at 60 is no spring chicken himself, is a calm, wise man and therefore the ideal counterpart to the self-centered Miss Daisy, who stubbornly refuses to use his services. With perseverance and unimpressed by some of the old lady's unfriendly remarks, Hoke finally manages to get Miss Daisy into the car, and gradually a respectful sympathy develops between the unlikely couple during their trips together. What initially has the charm of an unruly taming develops into a social play with depth. The real historical setting from which the two protagonists come, spheres that could hardly be more different, provides enough fuel for the fire: Here the wealthy, educated Jewish Southern lady, there the black employee from the lower class in an era in which racial segregation in the USA still almost naturally determined people's everyday lives.