True Crime: Die Thomaskatastrophe
theatre - director - germany - 2026
Author: Coco Plümer
Director: Luzie Kurth
Set and Costumes: Sven Hansen
Sound: Simone Nowicki
Dramaturgy: Peter Hilton Fliegel
Light: Daniel Lang
With: Lotta Hackbeil, Marc Vizing and Frank Auerbach
Premiere: 18 September 2026, Stadttheater Bremerhaven
On 11 December 1875, a bomb went off in Bremerhaven, and the aftershocks ran far beyond that day. The worst of it was the death toll, over 80 people dead and many more injured, along with severe damage to the harbour and the town. The device carried a timer and was hidden inside a barrel declared as freight, meant to travel on a passenger ship bound for New York. It left behind enormous fear, psychological and economic alike. The curious part is that the man behind it, William King Thomas, was a notorious swindler and a career impostor.
