Everything is big

"Oh, you don't have to understand everything down to the last detail—you just have to: live."

He works where others rarely want to linger: at the Rosenberg Cemetery in Winterthur. As a gravedigger, he accompanies people through the final moments of their farewell. He hears the music of a life well-lived, witnesses families caught between grief and indifference, and observes how entire life stories are reflected in just a few moments. Over time, this work changes his perspective on people—and on himself. For in the midst of his daily encounters with death, he discovers something unexpected: a new appreciation for life. Amid urns, headstones, and the quiet routines of the cemetery, thoughts about dying emerge—thoughts you rarely hear—unspectacular, precise, and often laced with dry humor. After all, when you’re carrying an urn, you can’t afford to slip.

In *EVERYTHING IS BIG*, Zsuzsa Bánk tells the story of a man who is indispensable yet is expected to remain invisible. With great precision and warmth, the play zooms in on a single life, raising fundamental questions along the way: When is a life “truly” lived? Are there small lives and great lives? Why are all people always seen as good after they die? And why, in the face of death, do we search for signs, order, and meaning in our lives—which seem so small beneath the infinitely vast sky?

A night at the theater about saying goodbye, humanity, and the great art of celebrating life.

Original Production by Zsuzsa Bánk
WITH Matthias Kurmann
LIVE MUSIC Marcel Gschwend aka Bit-Tuner
DIRECTED BY Annina Dullin
SET DESIGN Beni Küng
COSTUME DESIGN Nina Steinemann
DRAMATURGY Fadrina Arpagaus
Swiss Premiere

Supported by Migros Kulturprozent, the S. Eustachius Foundation, the Dr. Adolf Streuli Foundation, and the Josef P. and Nelly Spiess-Mohn Foundation.