Rehearsals have started in Heidelberg!

An E-Mail-Correspondence between the director Miriam Horwitz and the dramaturge Jürgen Popig about Ivor Marinić's play ‘Ich befürchte, jetzt kennen wir uns’ / ‘Bojim se da se sada poznajemo’

The play is based on the results of a workshop with the Croatian and the German cast who will perform the piece in Heidelberg and in Zagreb.

September 20^th
Dear Jürgen,
I am asking myself what kind of importance the city has for the characters in the play. It seems to me a place where they can orientate themselves, find ways to go. As soon as they can't find themselves in it anymore, they can't survive. It seems to me a mirror of time as well as of themselves.
All the best,
Miriam.

October 3^rd
Dear Miriam,
I also assume the city supports the characters. Here they can find the localisation that is disappearing in their existence. In our text the city is always presented in a positive way: The city is safe, the city is comfortable, that's why I love to live here, etc... At the same time this city turns out to be an imaginary place: it combines elements of Heidelberg as well as elements of Zagreb. A kind of an utopian construction of a European city in which the characters can locate themselves. In the Heidelberg production the city will be called Zagreb, in Zagreb it will be called Heidelberg. Conflict arises when the city loses its reliance: in Mirogoj cemetery the inscription of the memorial for the fallen Croatian soldiers in the first World War has been extinguished so that you can mistake it for a partisan memorial now. I am anxious to know what equivalent in Heidelberg history our author will find.

Second question: The play is part of the European theatre project „The Art of Ageing“. Where do you see the connection? In my opinion the play is about locating oneself in history. The memories of the characters change in the course of time until they cannot be sure any longer what really happened. At the same time they fear they cannot exist without history. The text says nothing about the age of the characters. I could imagine that ten years are passing between each scene. How do you think about this?
Best,
Jürgen.

October 4^th
Dear Jürgen,
that's an important question which I hope we can answer. How much time passes between the scenes? The actors in Zagreb said at first they felt the whole action would take place in a few hours, later they thought it would cover many years. Time passes and our counting of it can only be a kind of guiding rule. What does it mean to feel young or to be tired of life? How can you say, you have lived your life, you have experienced everything you could, and now it's over. For me it is exciting that not only Andreas – our ‘older’ generation – feels like this, but also Josepha (Natalija) has a reply that describes exactly that feeling. The question is, what do I have to experience in life? How many things do I have to have seen, how many questions do I have to have asked? When are we old? Is Filip young because he denies life, denies memory? He lives just in the moment, he creates his own life, not reacting to anything that lies in the past, he becomes timeless. Through that he is no longer available for the others and at the same time he is immortal. When I don't know how old I am, I am not as old as I am, am I not? The years and hours and moments we are counting are just a kind of education – I say it’s summer even if it is raining and hailing, because it is June. I believe that our history depends on ourselves. We use language for orientation, to share and communicate with each other, to become of one voice. By doing so, values have changed. At an age of 65 you are going to be a pensioner, whether you are tired of life at 30 already or even not before 80. This Orientation makes understanding possible but doesn't permit deviation. This is what the play points at: deviation.

„Man kann die Dinge nicht aufschreiben. Und wenn man sie aufschreibt, sind sie doch immer anders. Er ist immer ein anderer."

Same as time. Perception of time – it is always deviating.
Regards,
Miriam.

October 6^th
Dear Miriam,
Let’s develop this further! Another question: You are putting the play on stage, first with a German and afterwards with a Croatian cast. I find that very unusual! Do you have different concepts and/or expectations for the two productions? 
Best
Jürgen.

-   to be continued - 

Premiere in Karlsruhe "The Clock is ticking"

THE CHOIR AS A DOUBLE BRIDGE

The choir of Banat Suebians from Karlsruhe consists of women and men who all have emigrated from Romania to the Karlsruhe area in the past 30 years. All of them are retired and full of memories about their old home and their new. Here they rehearse with choir leader Hannelore Slavik the traditional Banat song: "We will not meet again as young as today. So let us sit down and sing the old songs..."

GETTING READY FOR 9 ROLES IN 60 MINUTES

Romanian actors Sabina Bijan and Colin Buzoianu get their basic makeup.

They have to be prepared to play a maximum of 5 out of 9 roles. Peca Stefan has conceived a play with 9 scenes from which the audience chooses 5 each night.

The costume and wig changes have to happen quickly because "the clock is ticking".

GUEST OF HONOR

A happy Heinz Doll, President of the Association of friends Karlsruhe - Temeswar, surrounded by the artists after the opening night:

Director Malte Lachmann, playwright Peca Stefan, actresses Sabina Bijan and Sophia Löffler, actors Jan Andreesen and Colin Bzoianu, designer Anna van Leen.

60 MINUTES OLDER TOGETHER

Cast choir and audience celebrate on stage the first performance of DIE UHR TICKT in Karlsruhe. After each performance the audience is asked on stage for a glass of sparkling wine and a piece of cake to celebrate the performance they have contributed to by voting which scene should be played next.

AN IMPORTANT NEXT STEP FOR THE RELATIONSHIP OF TWO PARTNER CITIES

In her speech before the opening night, Dr. Susanne Asche, Head of the cultural department of the city of Karlsruhe, underlined the importance of artistic projects in the process of keeping the friendship between the two cities alive. On the seats: Playwright Peca Stefan and dramaturg Michael Gmaj.

From Vienna to Bratislava

How wonderful to be fetched at Vienna airport by a driver of the Slovak National Theatre Bratislava. It is 10 years now that I first was brought by car from Vienna to Bratislava, then also being involved in an ETC project: ‚Learning Europe’, created by Armin Petras - it united 12 actors and 6 directors from 5 countries. Three of them – Slovakia, Slovenia and Lithuania - were just about to join the EU. 10 years ago I for the first time recognised that Bratislava was only some 60 km away from Vienna, that the river Danube was the same here and there, and the landscape as well – and I was overwhelmed by this fact. And I cursed those who had constructed the Iron Curtain, and divided the very heart of Old Europe, and had separated people and made them feel more and more foreign to one another. Now, 25 years after the Fall of the Wall and the start of ‚Soft Revolution’ in Slovakia I just felt happy on my way to the rehearsals of LAND DER ERSTEN DINGE / BLUDIČKA / FEN FIRES. And I didn’t at all like the pictures which, too, came into my mind and which tell what actually happens at the Eastern border of Slovakia, in Ukraine.

Although the bathtube on the stage broke during an interview for this blog because too much people hat entered it, and despite some difficulties to completely understand one another in this bilingual production, I still got happier in discovering that our play will work, that with the actors Emilia, Gaby, Dusan and Eric, directed by Brit, we obviously got a dream team to create Ninos play. The first part of rehearsals in Bratislava now is finished. In the end of October we’ll start for another three weeks of rehearsals in Berlin – and then have the first night on November 14th in Berlin, 27th in Bratislava. Keep your fingers crossed!

Christa Müller, Dramaturge at the Deutsches Theater, Berlin

Click here for more information about the play "Land der ersten Dinge" / "Bludicka"

Production "Strawberry Orphans" ready to premiere in Craiova!

Press Conference with the artists from "Strawberry Orphans" at the Staatstheater Braunschweig, soon departing for Craiova

Monday September 21st : Journalists from TV, radio and print media attended the press conference and received a profound insight into the project and the rehearsals of Strawberry Orphans ("Căpşunile şi Orfanii/Erdbeerwaisen"). After the showing of three scenes the actors and the director Julia Roesler gave interviews. "We are convinced that theatre is the best artistic way to draw people’s attention not only intellectually but emotionally to an important European topic" she says.

Click here for more information about the production. 

Read the press article from the German newspaper "Die Welt"

Read the press article from the newspaper "Braunschweiger Zeitung"

Image: Kim Efert (Musican) and the actors Gabriela Baciu, Gina Calinoiu, Sven Hönig and Oliver Simon at the press conference, Staatstheater Braunschweig.

Festive atmosphere in Timisoara!

The premiere of the German-Romanian production "The Clock is ticking" (Pe ceas, Die Uhr tickt) was a great success last Sunday September 7 in Timisoara.

The highlights of the evening here below!

Opening speech with Peca Stefan, Jan Linders and Ada Hausvater

At the end of this very participative performance, the actors and the audience sang all together "Forever young" and celebrated their unique evening with champagne and cakes on stage.

 

Some pictures of the performance that will never be the same!

Photo credit: Adrian Piclisan

Never isolate yourself!

Interview with Nino Haratischwili

In Bratislava, rehearsals for LAND DER ERSTEN DINGE / Bludičky, the co-production of Deutsches Theater Berlin and the National Theatre Bratislava have begun. Shortly before her journey home to Hamburg playwright Nino Haratischwili describes the first three days of rehearsals:

“I think it is impressive how quickly the involved parties from the two theatres have come together and that after just a few days of rehearsals we have already become a team, in spite of the many communication and translation problems. The coming together and the growing mutual awareness of the two groups from different countries, their cultures, their temperaments and their modes of expression is inspiring for everyone and can be used as a major source of creativity. I am excited to know that we have four brilliant actors and a young production team who will, in the coming weeks, make my play into their own story”.

From now on rehearsals will continue without you. How does that make you feel?

“It is sad but I feel that it is also right. At this stage of the process I, as the author, am no longer needed even though I would have loved to continue working on it. But I am looking forward to attending further rehearsals in Berlin and the premiere on 14^th November”.

What aspect of this project posed the biggest difficulty for you?

“The biggest difficulty was also the biggest challenge. When you are commissioned as an author, you are usually in contact with a dramaturge, maybe even a stage or theatre director who supports you in working on ideas and first drafts.  But for LAND DER ERSTEN DINGE I was in contact with two theatres, four dramaturges and very different ways of communicating and different historical backgrounds. Owing to the distance (I live in Hamburg) as well as the language barriers we had to find a common level of communication. This was, ultimately, very productive and an important learning process for me but it also gave me a few grey hairs which brings us back to “The Art of Ageing”. (Laughs)

How did you feel about the topic “The Art of Ageing”? Was it inspiring or limiting?

“At first I was a little intimidated by the topic because it so easily takes on a negative connotation if it is not approached openly enough. But the topic is extremely important to modern society and so I also wanted to accept the challenge of dealing with it. Especially, since the topic has a different kind of relevance in the two countries for which I wrote the play. Questions of the future and ageing also concern us younger generations”.

The main focus of the play are two older women, one from West Germany who is confined to her bed after being ill, the other one from Slovakia, who nurses her. They cannot avoid engaging and dealing with each other. A hopeless situation?

For the two women the situation certainly seems to offer little hope and no way out. But they have no other option than getting to know each other and, over the course of the play, come to value each other’s life stories, quirks, sense of humour and problems.  The fact that we have two actors from Bratislava who speak both German and Slovakian was a huge asset. This made it possible for me to incorporate their linguistic abilities into the play from an early stage”.

And finally: What is the art of ageing for you?

“I believe it means not to isolate yourself, not to live in the past and to stay inquisitive. But this is not the sole responsibility of the ageing individual but also of society which, in times of youth obsession and superficiality, makes the topic of “living in old age” a taboo. That needs to be changed”.

Interview: Ulrich Beck

The issue of Ageing explored by the artistic team - Part I

Interviews with the artistic team from Romania and Germany

Production "The Clock is ticking" ("Die Uhr tickt" / "Pe ceas")

Colin Buzoianu, actor at the Teatrul National Timisoara, Romania 

Sophia Löffler and Jan Andreesen, actors at the Staatstheater Karlsruhe, Germany

Sabine Bijan, actress at the Teatrul National Timisoara, Romania

Malte C. Lachmann, Director, Germany