Well, the end of my second (is it really only my second?) weekend in Berlin and it was quite busy, I must say.
I had a sleepy morning Saturday, waking up pretty late and having a delicious Frühstuck where I ended up sharing a table with a young attractive couple from Frankfurt. They were visiting Berlin as well (the woman was on assignment from her consulting work in Frankfurt and the gentleman was her boyfriend visint her). She had similar impressions of Berlin to mine - she liked frankfurt but felt that the city was quite rich and fancy and not at all varied and especially culturally varied as Berlin. nightlife was chic and expensive, and it is true that in Berlin you get all sorts, really.
My breakfast consisted of three fried eggs on top of some bread with a slice of ham. It was delicious, and the best breakfast Ive had yet.
That afternoon I went to Gorki theatre for their Jung: rebellion und melancholie, festival. (jung = young)
It was quite crazy, all of the outside of the otherwise stern and royal looking Gorki theater was covered in people wearing graffiti stained white workers shirts cars turned on their side and painted, and various conceptual "stations". It basically looked like what young performance artists who had a bit more money, would do if they had to make a tourist friendly fairground attraction.
I quickly hurried into one of the shows, not really knowing whihc one - and ended up in what was the theatre's youth group performance. The audiemnce was mostly friends and parent sos I felt a bit strange not really understanding much. Unlike other plays I was seeing, I really had no knowledge or had read none of this so I was pretty much lost except for bits and pieces. The plot revolved aroud a series of skits featuring a bear from a utopia and the children, who wanted to show him the error of his ways. What startled me is that for such a young group the theatre was exceptionally poltiical. The only set pieces consisted of cardboard boxes which had on one side pasted important political (and not so important) figures. Che Guevara, Nelson Mandela, Malcolm X, Homer Simpson...I cant really say much else about this really. It was an itneresting show, and beared quite a lot of resemblance to the type of small scale revue shows ive done, the one difference being its political content.
The next show I was to see was the one I originally came for: Als Wir Traumten (all our dreams) directed by the artistic director of Gorki's, Armin Petras.
Once again, this was a relatively new play by a youngish playwright so my impressions are very much sketches and impressions.
Petras certainly has a style, though. I'd place him halfway between Castorf und Ostermeier. He is willing to embrace kitsch and not take himself so seriously, but manages to also create breathtakingly beautiful theatrical moments. The play revolved around a group of girl-rebels in Leipzig, I believe. The only male character in the play plays different characters in drag. One is the old aunt, and another old character Im not too sure who it is. The storyline centered around Dani, a young member of the group - the play was, Im not sure, but the director managed some very itneresting choices, and his staging certainly had its proper aesthetic.
The set was simple, this, the Gorki's studio was also quite small, like PS 122 sort of.
Set consisted of a grey wall with different sections (the wall later broked and became a sort of barstand) und a bed on the right ha nd side.
There are many different wonderful aesthetica images in the play that I will merely list instead of placing into a plot that I have no idea about.
- Little greenback from reservoir dogs played over and over and over again.
- the women, all in black jeans and leather jackets screaming and slamming 2 x 4s over and over on the ground.
- A balloon in a box, extreme tension and then bam! Someone pops it. Not so bad though.
- A faux boxing match while a blind girl (actual blind girl) sits in a box with a foam cat. Dani, who is supposed to be young is fed ice cream which is merely a wet sponge, by having it be rubbed on her face, first wet, then dry.
- All of the women have a faux paper cut head. They then begin drawing in red pen on the head, and hang them up.
- Another head, on the wall, women spit red stomato juice on it.
- Referenceto a bus, all of a sudden, the fog machine begins and everyone starts being chased around with a for machine.
- Another song played over and over again, rape me, by nirvana. Subsequent headbanging ensues.
- At one point the leader of the pack comes onstage and drinks an entire pint of beer in front of us, keeping eye contact and not stopping.
- Women in mustaches.
- A mock funeral. Blood on the wall, woman in a suit below her a box with a male figure inside. The other characters appear with different kinds of puppets. They proceed to cry and act with the puppets.
An interesting experience to say the least. It was a good show...i think.
The night was nice. First I get lost with bad directions from my friend, ending up at the edge of Prenzlberg when I had to be in Mitte. That was annoying, but I managed to catch most of the Netherlands Russia game. I met up with my friends who had just seen their friends flatmate in a show. The show sounded cool, and the flatmate was another Berlin actor, Dietmar.
Dietmar was very charismatic, a long german face and a serious nose, as well as one of the deep entertaining german accents. His baseball cap was forgivable. He reiterated that its not easzy for actors in berlin because so many people want to be actors. it is true, that when you are in berlin you are in a place that really takes its theatre seriously. We were in a sorts of cast party for the show, but me and my friend fernando hadnt seen it so we were feelin a bit awkward. It was fine thouhg, dietmar told me about his favorite Pollesch show at the volksbühne (which i will be seeing on July 1st= We eventually left them and went to this americanized club called Zapata. Bad music, but out back there was a beach bar and we hung out there. There we met up with my german friend I had met at the deutsches theater Julia, and she introduced us to all of her friends who were also actors.
I learned a bit more abou tthe theatricla tradition here. In Germany, to be an actor you cant just go to auditions without having gone to school first. You first present your degree and your roles (actors usually have 4 roles that they are exceptional at, from different time periods, so like a Shakespeare, a Goethe, maybe a Goldoni or Moliere and a contemporary one, or Brecht). Then they review your credentials and only then do you get an audition. its very much like an industry, no unions, but you do need a graduate degree. Talent is the first step, then comes the discipline of having the physical and responsible and disciplined aspect. The training at their school is mostly stanislavky with a bit of strasberg.
I hung out there for a while, but got too sleepy and headed back when I could see the daylight.
Sunday was a delighful brunch with my GLS friends, and then we all headed to Tiergarten. Tiergarten is Berlins answer to central park, something I noticed though is it is much more foresty. I entered from the Brandenburg gate (yeah it was nice, glorious, blah blah= and I felt as if I had entered a forest. It is quite a beautiful park, full of places to just sit and relax, which is what we did. We played some fußball and frisbee, and I had a well deserved nap.
We then went to potsdamer platz to grab some pasta, good, not so teuer, and we managed to see Potsdam Platz. Eh. Very breahtaking architecture, but it all felt so modern and clean and boring. Lots of tourists.
Then, I went to Schaubühne for Death of a Salesman.
director luk perceval
Ok. The set for this piece is absolutely incredible. A couch, television und a nother sort of comforter couch on the side. A fat german looking man in his underwear watching tv, which is pointed away from us, An old lady folding clothes in the chair next to him. Its like all in the family all over again. Oh, and did I forget to mention that behgind them are about 100 odd potted plants creatinga veritable domestic forest? Yeah, that too.
This was arthur miller, schaubühne style. Willy Loman was reduced to a grumbling pathetc fat guy in front of a television, his sons Biff and Happy. Biff a fat mess, also in his underwear. Happy a young over cheery over talkative maess, also in his underwear. Every now and then the characters appear from the woods behind them. This creates the eerie effect ofthe trees moving before you actually see a character. Perceval stages the ntire play in the living room.
There is definitely a lot of freedom with the text. The play is short 1:40, and Perceval really just tries to capture glimpses of each other parts of the play. The role of the Woman is made super hyper, a hand appearing from behind the sofa massaging and reaching down to his pants revealing a woman wearing next to nothing who then wears nothing, rubbing her large breasts on his head, and then her crotch (much to the amusement of some 20 odd spanish students who found this shocking). This was all consistent with percevals style, not ver subtle and exceptionally brutal at times. Loman is mostly reduced to grumbles and staring straight at the television but when we explodes we see the complete and utter nothing he has become.
perceval like richter is also a media conscious director, and the use of the television is exceptional. We never see whats on tv, we only hear it. Richter culls material from German sitcoms, game shows, phone sex ads and newscasts. The same expression of nothing on the characters faces.
The pace can go from extremely hectic and entertaining, to incredibly dull however. And many scenes between the brothers and Millie especially lag.
The beauty of the staging in my opinion however, is that it creates the dream consciousness state so perfectly. A well dressed yung man symbolizing either young willy or death is always present, hidden in the plants, while the young boss is consantly videotaping willy, and looks as if he's culled straight from one of the samples german game shows.
The use of the set and the staging also creates the appearance of watching some weird sort of wildlife. the wildlife of human nature, exposed to its seething core. Perceval doesnt seem to be much of an optimist. this is the most pathetic version of death of s alesman but not for making willy a sort of optimistic mess. This willy is too dead to be optimistic. It merely shows a human nature that has given up on meaning. Happys monologues have been cut in a way that they go on forever and have no meaning. Biff is merely restricted to mostly just cursing everyone out, Schesse Scheisse Scheisse fick dich fick dich fick dich! (seriously that is basically half of his lines)
Although I have to hand it to Perceval, he created some incredibly original theatrical expreinces for me. The coup de grace has to be the very end when Biff comes in having found the pipe. He breaks down, MAJORLY. He had struggled for words in most of the play, resorting to merely cursing them out. Now he cant stop. It goes on for nearly 10 minutes. 10 minutes. Without stopping. Without breathing. 10 minutes at 11 (the volume, that is), he screams so hard and so fast that spit falls from his mouth, chucking spittle foaming on the cushions but he doesnt stop. He keep s screaming so much he has to go into the woods, throw up or at least try to, and then come back and keep going keep going and all that time you have an audience that is either laughing, or transfixed (the spanish kids were laughing. I figured they wanted to be watching their team beat italy, but ah well). Finally he goes into the woods, throwing up again, and only silence follows. Th death of willy was fast. Merely following the man dressed in a suit (as death) and then lying down on the sofa and dying. But that was just a tacked on ending. Perceval coul have ended it with Willy on the sofa. He was already dead anyway.
...
I celebrated spains win over italy in the pouring rain. Jumping to abut 5 different bars, one lost service because of the rain, one closed, and finally watching spains win, thank goodness over an italy that i was sic of watching win by playing boring ugly defensive football. Spain russia will be amatch to watch.
Tonight I have M at the Maxim Gorki Theater - the director, Stefan Pucher is a media specialist, so Im quite interested in this production. Apparently Gorki theater was rated the the third best theater by german critics and itnellectuals, (talia in hamburg first, and deutsches theater second). Im actually going with some american friends so this should be fun.
See you all later for another update!
Bis morgen (probably=
- J
p.s. rip g. carlin
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