Theater premieres in Hamburg: Lost soul finds itself | EUROtoday

When you stepped out of the theater, snow had fallen. A skinny, chilly layer had settled over the streets and squares. And additionally over the frozen Alsterfleets. A matted Christmas tree lay helpless on the ice, as if somebody had thrown it out of the window in the course of the night time. The geese had left unusual traces on the white ice floor, which within the moonlight appeared like a secret message, a warning written not on the wall however on the frozen water. A message that may solely be learn by those that need to change one thing, transfer one thing, overthrow one thing in these oppressive instances.

instances? What do instances imply right here, asks Heinz, the “authoritarian quasi-king” in Ewald Palmetshofer’s newest rewrite of the basic at Hamburg’s Thalia Theater, what does the plural imply? “A time that lasts a long time suddenly becomes double?” Is what is going on so heavy that it might probably solely be carried by a number of shoulders of time? The frequent folks outdoors, the place it’s chilly, are furiously on the lookout for expressions for his or her worry. Inside, the previous king loses monitor of issues. He nonetheless believes that point solely exists within the singular and that he should nonetheless be addressed within the pluralis majestatis.

But instances are altering: a younger, hot-headed insurgent within the provinces, who goes by the title Henry Percy, defies the king and provides a brand new alternative for succession. Because his personal son, Prince Hal, right here “Harri”, remains to be looking for salvation within the hazy darkish room of the decrease class. Together together with his buddy Falstaff, he explores the completely different levels of hardness of the twilight and enjoys having his crotch touched the place it’s significantly darkish.

Falstaff: This night’s broadcast revolves round this informal, negligent carnival determine, who in Shakespeare’s cosmos together with his joker esprit is simply surpassed by Lear’s Jester. Palmetshofer renamed “Heinrich IV” “Saint Falstaff” and gave it the drastically crude, fecal-saturated expressions of a swank. A whirlwind that hovers in a dangerous means between the spirits of the instances. Who, on the one hand, says “fuck”, “sad” and “read my lips” self-absorbedly, however however by no means leaves the stylized area of the shaped language. Who takes to coronary heart the dramatic discrepancy between upstairs and downstairs, moon-beautiful and bar-dark, however doesn’t slip into the clichéd depths of a banal social present.

The indisputable fact that he succeeds in floating this night is especially because of the daring performing of Julian Greis, who performs the “unloved block of meat” Falstaff in a combination of touching big child and rebellious knight Rambo. Marius Huth performs his buddy Harri, who’s portrayed right here as a homosexual lover, with the useless self-confidence of a good-looking elite scion who lustfully descends into the underworld to be able to later return to the highest of the state all of the extra purified. He is a calculated faller who can stab brutally on the essential second and grasp greedily for energy. And when he has the facility, he now not is aware of his buddy “who taught him that down below”. Then he instantly says, full of sophistication hatred: “You have to despise the world you want to rule.”

An night that provides bold language and a concentrated dramaturgical rhythm. It has one thing Anglo-American about it; its perfection in lighting, costumes, tools and extras is paying homage to theater productions on Broadway that go to nice lengths to look exactly easy. Responsible for this disciplined however by no means inflexible manufacturing is the younger director Luise Voigt, who’s at the moment on the rise and whose Munich adaptation of Brecht was invited to the Berlin Theatertreffen final yr. Voigt, who is taken into account text-obsessed and mood-accurate, is at the moment being courted by many massive homes. This provides hope for a change within the temper on the levels of this nation.

The previous environment remains to be at residence on the opposite stage on this metropolis, on the Hamburg Schauspielhaus. A “seagull” is given with out it being fairly clear why. Director Yana Ross, who was born in Moscow in 1973 and grew up in Latvia, locations Chekhov’s lonely folks in a picket semicircle with a gap within the center and lets them play desk tennis or sing karaoke. That Masha solely wears black as a result of she is mourning her life, that love is seen as a synonym for harm, that the reminiscence of what has been missed hangs like a millstone across the neck of the previous folks – all of those deeper truths of the play usually are not touched upon. Instead, most scenes start within the type of psychological realism, however then rapidly tip over right into a banal, wishy-washy joke. What is thoughtfully described in this system as a “carnival” seems to be a peripheral butt-shaking on stage. And even the quiet scenes right here do not appear significantly disturbing, however quite restful at finest.

Paul Behren, who has simply been awarded the Ulrich Wildgruber Prize, performs Kostja much less determined than irritated by his mom’s boastful attitudes. The indisputable fact that he jumps right into a black gap on the finish appears quite stunning. Bettina Stucky’s Irina, however, is simply remotely paying homage to the playful vamp that the playwright imagined her to be. Her humiliating plea that her lover please not depart her for the daughter of a wealthy landowner turns right into a flat scene of jealousy. How transferring it was to see this plea on a London stage in Cate Blanchett’s efficiency final March – and to grasp that that is the key core of the piece.

The “Seagull” on the Hamburg Schauspielhaus is aware of nothing about this core. Only Daniel Hoevels as Trigorin provides an thought of ​​the extra intimate dimensions of Chekhov’s world of characters by way of his emotionally intelligent performing. He, whose facial options are dominated by a phenomenal disappointment, at all times stands as if he had been about to fall, runs as if he had been being chased, kisses as if he would in any other case starve. A misplaced soul within the in any other case pretty clear area of self-discovery. Two evenings that come to the identical conclusion from completely different instructions: In order to painting folks from again then in a means that we are able to perceive them at the moment, not solely colloquial phrases are wanted, but additionally poetic self-discipline. And an urge to discover that may by no means get sufficient of strangers.