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We preview the top picks this spring for English-language theatre in Germany.Spring is hot in English theatre in Germany, especially if you enjoy dark classics such as Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, a tale of family dysfunction and implosion being staged in Berlin, Dial ‘M’ for Murder, a suspenseful take of infidelity and revenge in Hamburg or damaged children striking out for a new start in Yellow Moon, to play in Frankfurt.
For a little lighter fare (only just), try Faust in a Box, an unusual staging of the Goethe classic complete with Led Zeppelin and Rolling Stones tracks, Caught in the Net about a man living a double life, or sing along to well-worn classics in the reprisal of Hair.
I personally want to check out the always reliable, ever poignant A. R. Gurney whose play, The Cocktail Hour, a gripping piece that deals with the age-old conflict between children and parents over values is being staged in Hamburg and the intriguing Blue Vein, a production in Berlin about a man’s uncontrollable obsession with cheese.
BERLIN
English Theatre Berlin
Orpheus Descending by Tennessee Williams
January 12 – 25 (except for January 19)
American Season
The Extremists by CJ Hopkins
Spin or fact? Theater or reality? A biting, original political satire that challenges audiences of any political affiliation, this play making its world premiere, is a labyrinth of wordplay and mind games in which a television talk show host and his guest who wrote a book about terrorism get lost in their own doublespeak ... or are they really double-agents, subversively reprogramming our sound-byte-saturated minds? This is a funny and fast-paced work of fiction, not an extract pulled from today’s headlines or news shows … but really, what’s the difference anymore? What does it say about the state of democracy, when the majority of citizens in the most powerful democratic country in the world can be led to war by nothing more than sophisticated marketing tactics? How free are we really? Are we thinking critically? And really, how could we be, having been subjected to non-stop media manipulation from the time we were born?
In The Extremists, as in his earlier plays, Hopkins’ main subject is authoritarianism, both externalized in society and internalized within our unconscious minds. Humor and wordplay keep the work entertaining. However, Hopkins’ real artistic goal is to create a state where we are forced to question the nature of the event unfolding before us, and the power that event is exerting on us, believing that, in this state of radical uncertainty, off balance and questioning, we become more awake, more aware of our own conditioning and programming, and thus, hopefully, more able to change it.
February 13-14, 17-21, 24-28, 8 p.m.
Reading
As You Like It by William Shakespeare
One of Shakespeare’s most popular comedies read by some of Berlin’s most eloquent English voices including Laura Cameron, Yvette Coetzee, Heather DeLisle, Dulcie Smart, Robert Chevara, Erik Hansen, Shaun Lawton, Terry Martin, Clayton Nemrow, David Shaw, Darren Smith, Simon Srebrn, Simon Young
February 22, 7.30 p.m.
Faust in the Box by Bridge Markland
See the dust brushed away from Goethe's classic literary work in Bridge Markland's one-woman show. Part performance art and physical theatre, part puppet show, Markland performs high-speed changes between Mephisto, Faust and Margarete, appearing out of a cardboard box turned stage. She peppers her condensed version of the classic drama with a soundtrack collage of The Rolling Stones, Robbie Williams, Metallica, Pink, Elvis, Depeche Mode and other pop/rock/disco music.
March 6 – 8, 8 p.m.
Bridge Markland - Faust in the box video | english
Blue Vein by Duncan Sarkies
A tragic tale of an unremarkable man with an all too human weakness. It all starts with an innocent cheddar cheese roll, and for a while there, Zack seems to have his consumption under control. But when he starts sneaking into the back rooms of parties to get his Camembert fix, spending unhealthy amounts of time with fondues and starts closing down vital laxative bodily functions, it is clear (to everyone around him, at least) that things have gone desperately wrong…
March 11-14, 8 p.m., May 27 - 30, 8pm
International Improv Theatre Festival
Crumbs is an Improv comedy theatre duo hailing from the cold lonely prairies of Canada. Stephen Sim and Lee White have been working together in the comedy biz since 1989 but have been using the Crumbs name since 1997. The duo has toured worldwide, and of course around Winnipeg. To call Crumbs an integral part of the festival would mean to diminish their influence -- these guys have been here from day one, they are the festival, they rock and they roll, and here they come in 2009 for six nights.
"The Crumbs" (Stephen Sim & Lee White) in Würzburg, Germany.
For the first two nights they will be supported by the wicked sounds of DJ Hunnicutt, then on March 25, for the first time, they will meet Berlin’s Improv wizards, Gorillas. Anyone interested in real Improv stuff where they get down to the Nitti Gritti should not miss this show - maybe a one and only - which eventually will be called a legendary night of hardcore Improv theatre.
Then for three more nights Crumbs, together with Gorillas, will embark on a journey into the world of musicals and develop a full-size musical show supervised by musical actress Nini Stadlmann (musical arrangement by Uwe Matschke).
March 23, 24 / 8 p.m. Crumbs Ft. Dj Hunnicutt
March 25, 8 p.m. Crumbs Meet Gorillas
March 26, 27, 28, 8 p.m. Crumbs And Gorillas: The Improv Musical Show
American Season
Prophecy Of A Nameless Eskimo by Ashley Brandt
From the writer of last year’s surprise hit, The Harvest Chamber, comes another absurd, darkly humorous and thought-provoking theater experience.
Imagine a world where diseases no longer exist and the ageing process takes three times longer than it does today. With the Earth no longer able to support all of life, the government has come up with the ultimate solution. Once a month, if your social security number is called, you have two choices: either report for extermination or find someone else to kill in place of you. It’s not as hard as you might think, what with the over-supply of super-humane weapons available to you from every street corner!
In this multi-media piece, three women and a medley of ridiculous video propaganda tell a tale of decay and survival in this society. Their story is one of distorted media, power-hungry officials and the mass manufacturing of very, very humane weapons.
Prophecy of a Nameless Eskimo will also take part in Berlin’s first Lange Nacht der Opern und Theater on 25 April.
April 8-11 and May 12-16, 8 p.m.
American Season
Three Tall Women by Edward Albee
One of Edward Albee’s great plays which won him the 1994 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Three Tall Women features a compelling woman of more than 90 years old, who reflects on her life with a mixture of shame, pleasure, regret, and satisfaction. She recalls the fun of her childhood and her marriage, when she had an overwhelming optimism for her future. Yet she bitterly recalls the negative events that resulted in regret: her husband’s extramarital affairs, the death of her husband, and the estrangement of her gay son.21 - 24 April / 28 April - 2 May / 5 - 9 May, 8pm
Lange Nacht der Opern und Museen
Both English Theatre Berlin and Theater Thikwa will show segments of their current productions during Berlin´s first so-called Long Night of Opera and Theatre where over 50 venues all over town will take part.
Hop on one of the special busses that take you from theatres to dance venues and opera houses. Enjoy all kinds of shows from 7pm until 1am !
At F40 THEATER THIKWA and ETB will present the following program:
(all shows will be approx. 30 minutes long)
7pm: THEATER THIKWA / ANWESEND.AUFGEHOBEN
7.30pm: THEATER THIKWA + ENGLISH THEATRE BERLIN / MAX UND MORITZ (at the Studio)
8pm: ENGLISH THEATRE BERLIN with THREE TALL WOMEN
8.30pm: THEATER THIKWA / DAS ZARTE WIRD JA IMMER ÜBERDROHT (at the Studio)
9pm: THEATER THIKWA / UMBRA
9.30pm: ENGLISH THEATRE BERLIN / BLUE VEIN (at the Studio)
10pm: THEATER THIKWA / KAFKA AM SPRACHRAND
10.30pm: ENGLISH THEATRE BERLIN / PROPHECY OF A NAMELESS ESKIMO (at the Studio)
11pm: ENGLISH THEATRE BERLIN / THREE TALL WOMEN
12 midnight: THEATER THIKWA / UMBRA
12.30am: ENGLISH THEATRE BERLIN / PROPHECY OF A NAMELESS ESKIMO (at the Studio)
Saturday April 25, 7pm - 1am
missTcommunication
Chivalry may not have been killed by Man. In a world of iphones, bluetooth, Skype, & IMs, a sit down, face-to-face conversation seems to be a thing of the distant past. At least that¹s what Lucy apparently thinks in the comedic opera The Telephone. Written in 1947 as a social commentary on the encroachment of technology on modern life, Gian Carlo Menotti is again made pertinent in this contemporize interpretation. A modern parable about the pitfalls of telecommunication, the battle between man and technology is on. Will the couple ever have their Happily Ever After when the telephone is constantly engaged?
Whether irked or inspired by the short sms, the urgent email, the quick IM, are we cured of loneliness forever? Connected, collective, communal; one love, many loves or no love at all?
The second piece of the evening tells the story in the European premiere of Brian Hulse's contemporary opera The Letter (written in 2003, based on Edith Wharton's story The Dilettante). Behind the paints and veils of Victorian society, a common theme is the image of women as vulnerable, wilting flowers forever outwitted and overpowered by men. But lurking under the ruffled façades of yesteryear, the mind games between women and men seethed away, masked only in witty allusion. Thursdale´s disreputable affair with Mrs. Vervain may have seemed innocent amidst the backdrop of parlor society in Edith Wharton's time and when Thursdale proposes to another woman, Miss Gaynor, one may think that man would again trump the ladies in deceit. It is the women however, in this ménage, who rise victorious as they parry in this Suffrage-era tale of an early Women´s Liberation. In the end they extract justice of their own from a culture often too permissive of its men.
May 22 - 24 2009, 8pm
--------------------------
Schaubuehne
Once a month, the well-known German director Thomas Ostemeier presents one of his notable productions with English surtitles. While some might think it is distracting, they actually take very little away from the power of the plays. Other productions are also shown in English or with surtitles.
Der Stein by Marius von Mayenburg
A new play by the Schaubühne's playwright-in-residence, Marius von Mayenburg, Der Stein (The Stone) is a journey through the history of a German family who keep suppressing, reinterpreting and re-facing their past. Mayenburg interweaves 4 plots, each of which takes place in a different period of the family history -- 1935, in the Third Reich; 1945, towards the end of World War II; 1953, when the remaining family members fled the GDR; and 1993, when a new generation returns to the former family home in Dresden. They plan on a glorious return, but they are quickly haunted by their ancestors' dubious legacies.
Jan. 27, March 22, April 19, April 20
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof by Tennessee Williams
It’s Big Daddy’s birthday. His two sons and their wives are coming for the occasion. It is not permitted, however, to talk about Big Daddy’s illness during the celebration. He has cancer, and the prognosis that he does not have long to live has been kept from him. Mae, the wife of his elder son Gooper, is the mother of five and pregnant with her sixth. She is in contention for the significant estate, which will be divided after Big Daddy’s death, and hopes to make out well based on her numerous children (who happen to be nasty little beasts). The younger son, Brick, married the attractive Maggie but has remained childless. This is no fault of Maggie’s, who has left nothing untried in an attempt to awaken her husband’s sexual attention. Brick, once a promising football talent, has become an alcoholic after the death of his friend Skipper. His difficulty in getting over the traumatic loss suggests Skipper may have been more than a "best friend." Something, in any case, happened in the past, and signs point to Maggie having been involved. Brick’s marriage to her mirrors a complicated love-hate relationship filled with guilt. They are still speaking but mostly in order to hurt each other. And the most important things are kept quiet anyway. During a hot, sticky summer night, Big Daddy and Brick end up exchanging blows. Their well-protected secrets can no longer be kept under wraps, and finally the suppressed conflicts surface and escalate.
February 8 at 6 p.m.
Watch preview
Work-in-progress: “Third Generation” by Yael Ronen
The project "Third Generation" is a cooperation of the Schaubühne with the Habimah National Theatre of Israel and the festival "Theater der Welt" (Theatre of the World). Yael Ronen heads the project, with actors from Habimah and from Germany as well as Palestinian Israelis. "Third Generation," which is written and directed by Yael Ronen, deals with the period of World War II and the clashes between the Israeli, Palestinian and German narratives as reflected by the third generation.
The project began at a workshop that took place in June of 2008 in Israel and in Germany, with actors Yishai Golan, Ayelet Robinson, Orit Nachmias and Roi Miller from Habimah; Nils Bormann, Karsten Dahlem, Patrick Güldenberg and Judith Strößenreuter from the Schaubühne; and Palestinian Israeli actors Rauda Sliman, Muhuammad Dabdub, Rabia Khouri and George Iskander. After the workshop (and a public showing in Halle in the summer of 2008), the Schaubühne and Habimah decided to mount a joint production that will be included in both theaters' performance schedule in 2009.
March 20 at 8pm, March 23, 24 and 25; April 3, 4 and 5; May 7, 8 and 9.
Over There by Mark Ravenhill
"I found you. You're here. And I was over there. But now I'm over here. I'm here. You're my brother. I love you."
When Franz's mother escaped to the West with one of her identical twin boys, she left the other behind. Now, 25 years later, Karl crosses the border in search of his other half. As history takes an unexpected turn, the brothers must struggle to reconnect.
Mark Ravenhill's (Shoot/Get Treasure/Repeat, Shopping and Fucking) visceral new play examines the hungers released when two countries, separated by a common language, meet again. Over There is a co-production with the Royal Court Theater.
March 23 at 7:30, March 24 and 25
Read Expatica's exclusive review of Over There:
'Over There': How Germany’s post-reunification struggles linger
Ausnahmezustand by Falk Richter
A woman and her husband: they have finally made it. They live in a secure neighborhood. But the threat of the unsafe outside world, and the fear of socio-economic collapse have penetrated the marriage and the family. If either partner lost their job, the family would be booted from their gated community. Living in fear. Even the son or the suspicious husband might be an enemy, an agent who might betray the secure home.
April 10 at 8:30
FRANKFURTThe English Theatre Frankfurt
Hair
The rock musical by Gerome Ragni, James Rado and Galt MacDermot
The English Theatre Frankfurt brings you the 1960s rock musical Hair. The production takes a fresh look at a show whose message shaped the world and whose energy and vitality are timeless. Let your hair down and come celebrate the 41st anniversary of the groundbreaking musical and recall the Age of Aquarius, Let the Sunshine In, Hashish and I Believe in Love, just to name a few of the world’s most famous songs.
Until March 6th
"Second star to the right and straight on till morning," that’s the way to Neverland, an island filled with adventure, fun and hidden danger. Peter Pan leads Wendy and her brothers out of stifling Edwardian London into this exciting fantasy world, free of grown up rules. Join the children on their journey and meet the Lost Boys, the Indians and the dastardly Captain Hook and his gang of Pirates. Find all the charm of J.M. Barrie’s famous tale that never ages in this sparkling Musical!
February 28, March 1, 7, 8, 2:00 p.m. and 6 p.m.
Hysteria by Terry Johnson
Set in 1938 in the Hampstead study of the elderly and ailing Sigmund Freud, a seemingly ordinary evening descends into hilarious farce when a neurotic naked woman takes refuge in his closet just as Salvador Dali arrives to pay homage to his hero. This sparkling piece of intellectual slapstick is played out against the darker background of Freud’s fears and obsessions, finally rising to a crescendo of true Freudian hysteria.
This extremely funny, farcical play was inspired by a teatime visit from Salvador Dalí, which did indeed take place in 1938.
March 13 – May 3
Educating Rita by Willy Russell
Frank is a professor of English whose disillusioned outlook on life drives him to the bottle. Rita is hairdresser hungry to find some meaning in life. With Frank as her tutor, Rita embarks on an Open University course and her education begins. The effects are both amusing and dramatic as her intuitive approach becomes clouded and stifled as she grapples with the problems of formal education. In her attempts to appreciate literature, Rita challenges the attitudes of traditional teaching, causing Frank to question his own understanding of his work and himself.
This play is a roller coaster ride of self-discovery bristling with hilarious comedy and wry observations.
May 15 – July 5
--------------------------Frankfurt English Speaking Theatre - English theatre in the Rhine-Main region
Death In Heels by Paul Domineske
Death in Heels is an irreverent look at life and death, in a dark comedy, touching on themes like male-female relations, the role of the ageing in society and the futility of fighting the inevitable.
May 9-10, 16-17, 23-24
--------------------------
Internationales Theatre Frankfurt
www.itf-frankfurt.de/th_engl.htm
LET IT BE ART!
Harald Culman's Life of Passion starring Ronald Rand is a dramatic journey of humor, boldness and fervor, of the man heralded as "the elder statesman of the American Theatre."
The moment Ronald Rand takes the stage as Harold Clurman in his solo performance, embodying Harold Clurman, through voice, gesture and size, we are immediately thrust into a world of boundless passion for the theatre, and are taken on a inspiring journey that lingers within our consciousnesses for a very long time. We follow Harold Clurman from his beginnings on the Lower East Side, through his education at the Sorbonne in Paris with Aaron Copland as his roommate, his initiation into the theatre through The Provincetown Players and The Theatre Guild, his friendship with Lee Strasberg, and their decision with Cheryl Crawford, to found The Group Theatre. We also see his relationships with Stella Adler, Alfred Stieglitz, Marlon Brando and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, among several others.
March 6, 8 p.m.
Yellow Moon (The Ballad of Leila and Lee) by David Greig
Yellow Moon tells the story of a handsome, restless teenager from Inverkeithing, Stag Lee McAlinden who, one dramatic night, finds himself stabbing his mother's boyfriend in the local graveyard and heading north on the Inverness train in search of his long-lost father. With him goes Leila, the silent, self-harming, celebrity-obsessed daughter of a migrant family who fled a war-zone in the 1990s and settled in Fife. In the far north, Leila and Lee find the father figure Lee was seeking, but not remotely in the form they imagined; they also find one another, a new friend, a new relationship with the land itself and - in the end - a faint, glimmering hope for a better future for all the damaged children of our time.
March 21, 7 p.m.; March 17, 20, 8 p.m.
Tales and Music
An evening like no other. At last, storytelling for adults! I’ll tell you a tale – and the magical journey begins. Richard Martin needs nothing but his voice to fascinate and enthral the listeners with his tales. The stories he tells are trickster tales, fairy tales, wonder tales and jokes. They are comic, they are witty, they are profound. They are stories to make you laugh, stories to move you with beauty and truth. They are centuries old and from around the world. Richard’s performance recalls the ancient culture of the storyteller, the weaver of fantasy, the spell-binder. Most of the audience are not native speakers, so the first time they come to a performance they naturally wonder whether their English will be good enough. But within minutes the age-old power of the storyteller takes them into a world of imagination in which they understand far more than they thought possible. And between the tales Vera plays her wonderful music: a perfect combination. After telling throughout Europe, Asia and America, at last Richard returns to the International Theater Frankfurt. A “must” for all who love English!
Visit www.tellatale.eu to read more, and already listen to some tales (try Parrot’s Prayer, one of his funniest)
May 15, 8 pm
--------------------------
HAMBURG
The English Theatre of Hamburg
Caught in the Net
If you think your life is stressful, imagine the life of John Smith, a taxi driver who keeps two separate families in different parts of London. When his teenaged children (a girl from one family and a boy from the other) accidentally meet on the Internet and plan to see each other in person, John's already complicated life becomes absolutely chaotic. Can he manage to keep his double life a secret from the kids and his two wives? This fast moving comedy by Britain's recognized "master of farce," was nominated for the 2002 Olivier and Evening Standard Awards for Best New Comedy. until Feb. 7
The Cocktail Hour by A. R. Gurney
A young playwright returns home to get permission from his mother and father to produce a play he has written about them. His well-to-do (and rather stuffy) parents are horrified at the idea of their private life being exposed on stage, while his sister is furious that she is only a secondary figure in the play. The cocktail hour soon turns into a shouting match, and, as more drinks are poured, family skeletons come out of the closet. This gripping play, dealing with the age-old conflict between children and parents over values, won numerous awards after a long run on Broadway in 1989. The author, one of America's premier playwrights, also wrote the very popular Love Letters and Slyvia.
February 19 to April 25.
Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks by Richard Alfieri
What could a Southern Baptist widow in Florida possibly have in common with a gay dance instructor from New York? Perhaps more than you might think. In this new American comedy, 72-year-old Lily hires Michael, a former Broadway chorus boy now approaching middle age, to give her dance lessons in the hope of spicing up her lonely life. As she learns the swing, the tango and the waltz, we see two human beings, both angry and disappointed with life, begin to cross barriers of age and culture.
May 7 to July 11
--------------------------Hamburg Players
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof by Tennessee Williams
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof is set on the estate of the wealthy Pollitt family in the Mississippi Delta, where the family has gathered to celebrate patriarch Big Daddy's 65th birthday. He is dying of cancer, but he and his wife are unaware of this.
Their second son Brick, formerly a football hero, now an alcoholic, is temporarily confined to his bedroom after breaking his ankle in a drunken attempt at jumping hurdles. His childless wife Maggie complains about Brick's older brother Gooper's children. Gooper's wife Mae, pregnant with her sixth child, is doing everything she can to make sure of inheriting the estate. Maggie and Brick argue about his drunkenness, his lack of interest in the question of the inheritance and the fact that he does not make love to her any more.
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof premiered in New York under the direction of Elia Kazan, who revised the third act to give the play a more redemptive resolution. In 1958, director Richard Brooks adapted Cat into a hugely popular film starring a stunning Elizabeth Taylor, an improbably handsome Paul Newman and corpulent Burl Ives. To Williams's dismay, Brooks excised all explicit references to Brick's homosexuality in deference to the studio censors.
May 6 to 9 and 13 to 16
Wednesdays to Saturdays at 7.30 pm
Matinee performance on Saturday 9 May 2009 only at 3.30 pm
Dial 'M' for Murder by Frederick Knott
Former tennis pro and playboy Tony Wendice (Jonathan Greenman) married the charming Sheila (Izzy Orde) for her money, only to neglect her and lead the good life. But when he discovers she has fallen in love with another man, crime writer Max Halliday (Martin Mills), Tony starts to worry that his free and easy days might come to an end. So he plays the dutiful and attentive husband while he carefully lays plans for the perfect murder.
He blackmails Lesgate (Tom Ivison), an old schoolmate, to break into their house and strangle Sheila when she is home alone.
February 11-14, 18-21 Wed. to Sat., 7.30 p.m.; matinee on February 14 at 3.30 p.m.
Copyright Expatica
January 2009/ Updated April 2009
Great article on English theatre in Germany! Love it .. keep it up!
Regards,
Constance George
Great article on English theatre in Germany! Love it .. keep it up!
Regards,
Constance George
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