A Robber And Some Sheep
I originally had only planned to see a show in Uelzen an hour away from Hamburg and not the one I did see at the end.
The "Jahrmarkttheater" presents a show called "Silent Night" in different towns around Lower Saxony before Christmas once a year but due to the illness of one guy they had to change the show and presented the family play (with music) they had on already during their open air summer in a tiny village called Wettenbostel near the Lüneburg Heath.
Knowing that one guy from the "Räuber Hotzenplotz" cast would appear in that show I also decided to see "Räuber Hotzenplotz" just for the crack to see who the poor one would be having to get from Hamburg to Uelzen rather quickly. Sounds confusing? It isn't really. ;-)
Räuber Hotzenplotz - Schmidt Theater, Hamburg, 9th December, 2011
So leaving work early for a change I was off to see the Friday 2.30pm matinee show. With the advent season they currently do not do only the usual weekend shows but also midweek shows - at least one day (but then I suppose they can actually be lucky with not being in the UK having to do three/four pantomime shows a day ;-) ).
The only decent seat left was one front row one and I was praying for Götz Fuhrmann not being on as the robber as it would be the perfect seat to be picked as the guy he picked the last time sat there.
Luckily he was not on so it was the most perfect seat.
Already an hour before the show as walking around the theatre with a friend who came along to the show we found out who the poor one would be to play two shows - it was Mario Saccoccio as crossing our way.
Robber Hotzenplotz - Torsten Hammann
Kasperl - Jan Radermacher
Seppel - Mario Saccoccio
Grandmother/Fairy - Elena Zvirbulis
Constable/Sorcerer - Markus Richter
So my fifth show of this was definitely a lot of fun again. Not sure what it was the cast had in their water or whatever but all five were so hyper and bouncy that they had me in stitches.
I was especially pleased that I got to see Torsten Hammann as the robber at last again after I hadn't seen him since my first show two months ago.
As much as I enjoy Götz Fuhrmann, Torsten just IS the robber with the perfect looks, perfect posture, perfect voice, he always reminds a bit of one a little on the short side yeti. ;) He just has the roughness, scruffiness and edginess I want to see.
Already when he comes barefoot onstage the first time hiding behind the wooden prop tree there is so much strength in his performance.
And while I was not the one handing him the tissue this time I still ended up being the pointee at the end of that number. Oh dear....
Elena Zvirbulis as Grandmother/Fairy: OMG, it is incredible how much she can still surprise me with her performance - one giggle fit after the other watching her as the grandmother - the faces she pulls, her pouting, pursing and puckering, how she moves, how she speaks just all too funny. I really do not want to the see the other one again who bores me to death. And how caring, touching and tender she is as the fairy combined with the right amount of wit and panache is just wonderful.
Markus Richter as constable and the sorcerer was nice to watch again as well. I like him as constable, wished he would be just a tiny bit more stable with the Bavarian touches but as the sorcerer he is just mad, hyper, ghastful and so OTT that it was such a delight.
I enjoyed Mario as Seppel a lot more this time. Still not keen on his one sad moment, when his character is to be all teary and he actually grins but he worked so much better with Jan this time, being a lot more slow and dumb just as Seppel is to be for me. I still prefer Manuel but Mario has for me "found" his interpretation at last. But maybe he needed that bit of pushing with Jan Radermacher being anything but fit and Mario being the leading one in some scenes.
I had thought when I saw the show the last time in November Jan was poorly but that was nothing compared how poorly he was this time.
Oh gosh, there were moments in act 1 when he had hardly any voice. What he was doing onstage I do not know (and I read he was also on the day after again... tut, tut, tut). Well I do but he belonged in bed and not onstage.
I felt so sorry for him. He must have taken some treatment during the interval as it got a lot better in the beginning of act 2 though by the end of the show it was wearing off already again. His acting though totally made up for it. I can actually only repeat what I have said before about him. This show might "just" be a children/family show but it is incredible to see how much he puts into this role, no, not this role, any role I have ever seen him in, and he just touches and moves me (and reading the theatre's guestbook also others). He just gets it right from head to toe with so much sincerity, genuineness and heartiness.
Stephen Sondheim once said "All the best performers bring to their role something more, something different than what the author put on paper. That's what makes theatre live. That's why it persists." and this something that is so hard to put into suitable words is exactly what I feel.
Okay, it also was fun that when he, as in one scene they actually run through the audience, ended up directly in front of me on all fours (yeah, I'd always wanted him to be at my feet ;-) ) looking most adorable when he actually recognised me (well that happens when you sit in the front row... ;-) ) that you just want to caress and pamper him. I can just hope that he was taking time off after the weekend and could/can recover! I want a healthy Jan on boxing day! :)
The audience was a bit lame, the first guy who was picked for being the fly agaric refused to get involved, what a party pooper, so Torsten picked on him quite a lot and giving him the job of a lazy cat. So funny.
Well overall again a very entertaining enjoyable afternoon and am so looking forward to my trip to see the show on boxing day.
and then I was off to Uelzen - with some delays thanks to Deutsche Bahn, grrr....
Das Schaf Am Ende Der Welt - Theater an der Ilmenau, Uelzen, 9th December 2011
Maika Viehstädt - Charlie Stein - a sheep
Manuel Ettelt - Sibylle - a sheep, Günther - a dog, Pig, Cow, Siglinde - a Chicken
Mario Saccoccio - Beate - a sheep, Cat, Pig, Britta - a cow, Mouse
"Das Schaf Am Ende Der Welt" (The Sheep At The End Of The World) tells of an extraordinary sheep called Charlie Stein who lives on a farm in the Lüneburg Heath. But unlike a "normal" sheep Charlie has no ordinary sheepskin but some crippling grey scrubby shabby one and feels useless.
But it does not stop Charlie from dreaming of a long voyage to the end of the world in which it would go on and conquer exciting adventures.
But when Charlie wants to tell the other animals of this dream they have more important things to do: catch mice, lay an egg, comb their coat, guard the farm, providing milk.... At the beginning in each scene usually another animal is featured but the later the show, the more interesting it gets. ;)
So Charlie tries to become an important animal but fails miserably. Realising that he finally goes on a journey he had dreamt about for so long....
I did see the show already in August and it was a lot of fun. Surrounded by dozen of so well behaved kids and their parents and grandparents in this beautiful location (on a farm in the middle of nowhere and to be accurate it took place in a granary on that farm) it was so well received.
This evening though things were a bit different, not only the location (inside a 70s style theatre), the audience, mainly elder people who have had a theatre subscription for the last 40 years and the story was a bit adjusted to make it more christmas-sy ending with an alternate Christmas story (in which Christmas was just "accidently" on 9th December ;-) )being told by Jo Kappl (whom I also know well from the Jahrmarkttheater's summer season) who dressed in a black suit but with mini angel wings at the back came onstage with a massive book and some presents which turned out to be an artificial Christmas tree and tree decorations. A set of a (one dimensional) barn especially for the show was also built which looked lovely.
This again is a show more directed at kids (young and old) band for me it was a most enjoyable evening.
Maika Viehstädt as the sheep Charlie is just adorable and has the right balance of heart, sadness and daftness to be convincing.
Mario and Manuel are both hilarious in their several parts giving each of the animal they are portraying its own character and with character I mean not just being a dog or a cat but e.g. dog Günther or sheep Beate giving them a proper identity.
The typical clichés and features of the various animals are illustrated so wonderfully (well, Manuel's dog reminded me actually massively of his Baloo when he was in the last kids musical "The Jungle Book" at the Schmidt Theatre earlier this year and last year ;-) ) with such an eye for detail and accuracy. Especially near the end when in one scene Mario and Manuel have to change characters in shortest time standing behind chest high closed barn gates was so hilarious it had me in stitches.
Unfortunately some people in the audience had forgotten how it was to be a child or just did not want it to be one anymore, so in the interval I heard a few people, especially this couple and the single woman (who was even apparently a teacher teaching younger teens!!) in their 50s to my left moaning, no actually bitching about the show "it should be shown to kids in primary school and not to adults" and the couple even didn't know the show was changed. Seriously fact is it was well advertised already a month ago (even I in Hamburg had known it) it was a different show on and they could have easily returned their tickets, but even outside the theatre there were posters of the show. So not knowing it = own fault.
But still it did not stop others from enjoying it. I had the three most loveliest elder ladies (in their 60s and 70s I'd say) to my right who loved it and were especially touched by Maika's performance (not sure though about them comparing her to Meg Ryan...) - I was just not sure about them thinking first whether the three were amateurs or professionals. ;-)
Overall it was a most wonderful day spent at two theatres though if I do such a day again I really hope German rail is on time - even on my way back the train was nearly 30 minutes late.
