Fabian: The Story of a Moralist

A play based on the novel of the same name by Erich Kästner

Advance ticket sales start: June 09, 2026

In 1969, Erich Kästner noted about this novel: “The book was published in 1931. The title ‘Going to the Dogs,’ proposed by the author and initially tenaciously defended, was rejected by the publisher.”
But that wasn’t all – at the publisher’s request, Kästner had to edit and significantly shorten the book so it could be published in 1931 under the title Fabian. The Story of a Moralist. It was not until 2013 that the complete version was published under the title favored by Kästner.

Fabian, full name Jakob Fabian, lets himself drift through Berlin in the late twenties and early thirties. He has a doctorate in German studies but earns his money writing advertising copy in the advertising department of a cigarette company. Otherwise, he wanders through the big city, sits in coffee houses and bars, and visits shady clubs and brothels.
Unlike his friend Labude, who supports the communists, he generally holds back his opinions on political developments in Berlin and the world. Finally, Fabian falls in love, and with his relationship with Cornelia, his life seems to have found a goal and an anchor. But then he loses his job and must join the ranks of the unemployed; Labude commits suicide over a foolish prank, and Fabian’s relationship with Cornelia falls apart.
Berlin has now lost all its charm for him. Going to the Dogs is a satirically tinged panorama of the times and customs that seems terrifyingly relevant again today.