"Winter is not a season," American novelist Sinclair Lewis once proclaimed, "it's an occupation." Indeed, in our collective efforts to struggle through the endless grey and cold, we turn to a great number of comforts: hot chocolate, light therapy lamps, booze, fantasies about palm trees and, appropriately enough, black humour.
Just our luck, this season's English theatre scene serves up a healthy dose of absurdity to salve our broken souls. The English Theatre of Berlin welcomes Edinburgh Festival vets Fhlip Flhop, a raucous comedy about two bored decorators with surprisingly virtuosic b-boy skills, as well as Blue Vein, a play about a man so addicted to cheese his body starts breaking down.
For its part, The English Theatre Frankfurt continues with its staging of the steelworkers-cum-strippers hit The Full Monty and debuts Honk!, a musical adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen’s The Ugly Duckling, and Oscar Wilde’s fabulously witty An Ideal Husband. Meanwhile, The English Theatre of Hamburg offers up the farcical bedroom drama Birthday Suite by Robin Hawdon.
So get out from under your blanket and head down to the nearest stage. Your soul will thank you.
BERLIN
English Theatre Berlin
http://www.etberlin.de/
Flhip Flhop
Everything happens on the break: hip-hop meets theatre in this brilliant and exciting show by two great Hip Hop DJs from London. With FLHIP FLHOP they took the Edinburgh Festival 2009 by storm performing for three weeks to sold-out houses!
A crazy pair of painters escapes the monotony of their dull jobs by taking refuge in hip-hop, MC-ing and beatbox, mixing it up but usually ending up just mixed-up!
The elements of hip-hop are hidden and twisted into a dynamic physical performance using found objects and intricate choreography to create an energetic and spontaneous comedy
January 19 – 23, 2010 / 8pm / MAIN SPACE / for 5 nights exclusively in Berlin!!
Äffchen Orange by Anja Scollin
A colourful bilingual play for young children (3+) with acrobatics, magic and songs. There’s an orange coloured monkey, an orange coloured apartment and a magician whose favourite colour is orange. Celina, the magician, is desperate because she never knows where Tilly the monkey is. Also, Tilly only reacts when Celina speaks to her in English. Celina magically turns Tilly’s fur green. Now there’s a green monkey playing in a green garden.
24 January 2010 4pm / MAIN SPACE
The Stanzas Poetry Series: Jeroen Nieuwland and Paul Salamone
Jeroen Nieuwland writes poems and essays.
Paul Salamone is a writer, designer, illustrator, and performer currently focused on the field of comedy. He's a member of The Supernaturals sketch troupe and runs the Comedy in SIN monthly stand-up showcase in Berlin, but moonlights as a fan of all things avant and dada-ish. Visit www.paulsalamone.com to learn more.
The series is hosted by American poet and Berlin resident Michael Haeflinger.
February 10 2010 8pm at THE STUDIO
Blue Vein by Duncan Sarkies
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 at fondues and closing down vital laxative bodily functions, it is clear (to everyone around him, at least) that things have gone desperately wrong…
February 17 + 19 + 20 2010 / 8pm / STUDIO
Talking Heads by Alan Bennett
In an article to celebrate his 75th birthday on May 9th, The Guardian called Alan Bennett "a national treasure." But Bennett, who just recently had a huge bestseller in Germany with his novella, The Uncommon Reader (Die souveräne Leserin), is more than that – he is one of Britain’s greatest writers. Period.
Talking Heads is a series of monologues, poignant yet hilarious pieces peeling back the veneer of respectability to revel in – and of course laugh at – the private foibles of everyday life. These tales of loneliness and eccentricity range from hilariously funny to bitingly satirical to poignantly reflective, sometimes all in the same monologue. Alan Bennett wrote the first six pieces in the mid 1980s for BBC-TV, where they became a huge success and received several prestigious awards. More than ten years later, another six monologues followed, and this time Alan Bennett confronted his protagonists with severer problems like murder, child molestation, or a husband who is into S/M. English Theatre Berlin presents three of the later pieces: The Outside Dog, Playing Sandwiches and Nights in the Gardens of Spain.
Check out Expatica's review of the play: Tales from the side of the stage: Alan Bennett’s ‘Talking Heads’ <<<<LINK>>>>>
25 - 27 February 2010 at 8pm / MAIN SPACE
Faust in the Box by Bridge Markland
The performance and transformation artist Bridge Markland presents J. W. Goethe’s Faust as a one-woman-show using hand puppets and pop music. With an intense physicality, she performs high-speed changes between Mephisto, Faust and Margareta using hand puppets as her opponents. She acts to a sound collage made up of the text of the play and popular music from different generations.
March 25 - 28 / 8pm / STUDIO
Schaubuehne
www.schaubuehne.de
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.
No listings at this time.
FRANKFURT
The English Theatre Frankfurt
http://english-theatre.org/
The Full Monty, a musical with a book by Terrence McNally and score by David Yazbek
Desperate for money, six unemployed steelworkers go to great lengths to make some cash and help out a friend in trouble. When the Chippendale revue at the local pub – whose dancers venture down to their G-strings – is a hit with the local women, the group decides to do their own strip-tease act. But in order to beat the professionals they will have to go one further – by baring it all and showing the “full monty.” Will they? Won’t they? Can they keep their antics from their families? Can they draw a crowd? All will be revealed – or will it?
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday 7.30 pm
Sunday 6.00 pm
Sunday performances on 17th January, 24th January and 7th February are starting at 19:30 pm
Honk! By George Stiles and Anthony Drewe
Honk! is a musical adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen’s story of The Ugly Duckling. Ugly, an odd-looking baby duck is not accepted by anyone except by his loving mother. Soon after he is born, Ugly is seduced away by a wily Cat who wants to eat him for dinner. On his quest to escape from the cat and to find back to his mother he encounters many dangers and meets wonderful characters. A happy ending is in store for Ugly, who not only is reunited with his mother, but... come and see for yourself!
16th / 17th / 23rd /24th /30th January at 2.00 pm
6th / 7th / 13th February at 2.00 pm
An Ideal Husband by Oscar Wilde
In Oscar Wilde’s play, a rising politician, Sir Robert Chiltern has the ideal career, the ideal wife and the ideal social ranking. But all of his eminence is suddenly endangered when the scheming and mysterious Mrs. Cheveley threatens to blackmail him and expose a youthful act of corruption. As the lies, blackmail and incriminating documents come to light, it becomes clear that the man thought to be perfect is in fact flawed. Now, the man with all the flaws must do something right, and the question remains: what makes an ideal husband?
26th February 2010 - 18th April 2010
The Fox, a play adapted by Allan Miller from a novella by D.H. Lawrence
This stage version is based on D.H. Lawrence’s novella about two young English women on an isolated farm who have determined to find freedom by striking out on their own. All their plans, however, are disrupted by the sudden arrival of a former resident, Henry, a young manly soldier. He, like the fox that is preying on the women’s poultry, has a mysterious charm and soon comes to dominate life on the farm. Who is this mysterious man and what is he after?
30th April 2010 - 6th June 2010
Brave New World, a play adapted by David Rogers from a novel by Aldous Huxley
Based on Aldous Huxley's futuristic novel, Brave New World takes place in a state-run utopia where drugs are not only legal, they are encouraged, as is sex for pleasure, instead of reproduction. The totalitarian government controls all areas of society and provides entertainment and happiness in order to control its subjects, rather than use tyranny or forced compliance. The novel challenges our view of how modern society works and poses the stark question of whether or not we would exchange freedom for happiness.
18th June 2010 - 30th June 2010
Frankfurt English Speaking Theatre - English theatre in the Rhine-Main region
http://www.festfrankfurt.org/
No listings at this time.
Internationales Theatre Frankfurt
www.itf-frankfurt.de/th_engl.htm
Chapter Two by Neil Simon
George Schneider's wife had just died. His brother Leo gives him the number of Jennie Malone, and somehow they hit it off. And just when things are moving along, the memory of his first wife comes between them.
February 18-20, 8pm
HAMBURG
The English Theatre of Hamburg
http://www.englishtheatre.de
Birthday Suite by Robin Hawdon
Geoff has arranged a special birthday treat for his old friend Bob whose marriage is on the rocks. The treat is a hotel room for the night, complete with champagne, a double bed and a very attractive girl called Mimi. Arriving at the hotel, Bob discovers Kate in his room and assumes she is Mimi. The shy Kate thinks Bob is her date from a computer-dating agency. The confusion continues with the arrival of an amorous psychiatrist as well as Bob's wife, who believes she is dining with Geoff. The whole mix-up is due to a highly excitable Italian waiter, who shows everybody to the wrong rooms and then makes matters worse by trying to correct his mistakes. An evening of delicious and uproarious fun, this comedy-farce has enjoyed tremendous success all over the world.
Premiere on 26 November, 2009; Final Performance on 13 February, 2010
The Subject was Roses by Frank D. Gilroy
It is the Bronx, 1946. Twenty-one-year-old Timmy returns home after serving three years in the army during World War II. His Irish-Catholic parents celebrate his homecoming with song, dance and booze. But Timmy soon finds himself caught in the crossfire between mother and father, who compete for his affections while trying to mask the tensions in their marriage. To keep the peace between the parents, Timmy buys roses for his mom and tells her they are from his dad. When the lie is revealed, old resentments rise to the surface. Finally, both mother and father must face the choice of clinging to their child or recognizing the man he has become. Winner of both the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the Tony Award for Best Play in 1965, The Subject was Roses was an instant success with both audiences and critics, running for 832 performances on Broadway.
Premiere on 25 February, 2010; Final Performance on 17 April, 2010
Deadly Game by David Foley
Premiered recently in the USA, where it received the prestigious Edgar Allan Poe Award for crime fiction, this fast moving, witty thriller is sure to keep you on the edge of your seat until the very end. Camille Dargas, a highly successful jewellery designer in her 40s, asks a waiter at a party in her New York apartment to stay the night. The next morning, the young man, who calls himself Billy, refuses to leave. Not even a large amount of cash for his services will persuade him to go. It soon becomes clear that Billy is connected in some way to Camille's past and has other plans for her. When he threatens to blackmail her with a video of their intimate night together, Camille calls her security guard Ted. Will he actually remove Billy or is he somehow in league with the young man? The situation escalates beyond Camille's worst fears and she finds herself trapped in a cruel charade which forces her to reveal the dark secrets of her past.
Premiere on 29 April, 2010; Final Performance on 3 July, 2010
Hamburg Players
http://www.hamburgplayers.de
Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare
It is a hot summer in Messina, Italy, when Don Pedro and his brave officers return from war. The handsome officer Claudio is besotted with Leonato's beautiful daughter, Hero, while the charming young bachelor Benedick loves arguing with Hero's cousin, the quick witted Beatrice. Benedick claims he will never marry, but could it be that the gentleman
doth protest too much?
Leonato holds a masked ball to celebrate the safe return of the men, but Don Pedro's resentful half brother, Don John, seeks a way to spoil the general fun and happiness. Will true love win out in the end? Are all women hoodwinking hussies and men the credulous cuckolds?
Sex, infidelity and deception... Shakespeare's best-loved comedy.
17-20 and 24-27 February 2010
Much Ado about Nothing: Beatrice
Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie
Christie’s crime classic hits the Hamburg stage.
2nd to 5th and 9th to 12th June 2010
Expatica
January 2010
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A guide to Germany’s best English-language dramas of the season.
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