Shakespeare in Berlin

Shakespeare in Berlin: Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare performed by the Shakespeare Company Berlin at the Ostbahnhof, Berlin, July 5th 2007 Romeo + Julia! (2007, Shakespeare Company Berlin) Title Romeo + Julia! Theatre Company Shakespeare Company Berlin Theater shake! ( Tent ) Production Location Berlin, Country Germany Start Date 2007-06-06 End Date 2007-09-19 

Cast Lukas Hötzel Elisabeth Milarch Stefan Plepp Cast Member Oli Rickenbacher Cast Member Erik Studte Cast Member Alexandra Surer Crew Overview Assistant Set Design and Masks (Mitarbeit Bühne and Masken) Sabine Raible Composer (Musikalische Leitung) Bernd Medek Make-up and Hair (Make Up and Frisuren) Tamara Zenn Aufführungstermine ROMEO & JULIA! im Sommer 2007 (Beginn jeweils 20:30 Uhr):JUNI: 6. / 8. / 14. / 22. / 28. / 29. JULI: 5. / 6. / 13. / 19. / 20. / 26. / 27.AUGUST: 29./ 30. / 31.SEPTEMBER: 6. / 7. / 13. / 14. / 20. / 21.Preise: 16,- EUR, ermäßigt 11,- EUR (ab 10 Personen 15,-/10,-)Außerdem Schulvorstellungen um 11 Uhr:13./ 20./ 27. Juni und 5./12. /19. SeptemberPreise für Schulvorstellungen: 7,50 EUR 

 Dear Heike, thanks for talking to me last night. I was trying to gain some sense of the performance beyond the linguistic barrier. Sometimes I thought timings were offset by the overall enthusiasm, the willingness to be creative without having any great depth of resources. That´s quite the reverse of the problems that the Berliner Ensemble have. Obviously they have all the resources they need, thereby go for a more minimalist approach. They allow the audience to savour things a bit with a very definitive break (almost like a scenic cut in a film) between scenes, many pauses from the actors between their set speeches. What is great is that you´ve produced this play, it works. Overall I thought the piece could have been hedged in by some ironic cackling, the introduction of some handy Macbeth-style witches or some other more or less arbitrary deus ex machina. That´s not in the play, a naive one from S´s earlydom, with less irony or paradoxism than romantic enjoyment of the tribulations of the doomed lovers. What about this: "Why do you look so glum, Mr Hairbears?" "I have terrible cancer." "Why won´t you want to sleep with Juliet?" "I´m a wandering transvestite." Sorry that´s what I said at the Ostbahnhof, crazy isn´t it? The Ostbahnhof (East Station), obviously part of East Berlin, is a gaunt structure, looking very like other train stations in Berlin. Incidentally there is no WestBahnhof or SüdBahnhof but there is a NordBahnhof. This reflects the division of Berlin into sectors before the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Obviously there are still some nascent sectors, still a (economic, political) division between east and west. The play was performed in a tent beside the train station, not perhaps the most ideal or salubrious setting but an interesting one. This is far away from the magnificent theatres and opera houses of Unter den Linden and Mitte. I expected plenty of energetic theatre and that´s what I got. Within the context of the limitations of cost and expense, the small ensemble cast of 6 players, fulfilling the roles of 24 players in the original, did very well with their material. There was plenty of innovation in terms of set design, mise en scene, the props were particularly skilfully deployed. The problem with the acting, as I outlined in the prelude, a jocular email to the assistant director Heike Lohse, was the sense of timing. An epidemic of enthusiasm. But also some problems with the actors understanding their audience. Knowing when to allow a pause for recollection or understanding. Perhaps a sense of overall professionalism was missing, what else could one expect from a performance in an unfashionable theatre-going locale like the Ostbahnhof? But a sense of creativity, economy, good sense that Brecht might have applauded, whereas he may have been simply bored by the superb professionalism, finish but sometimes overall lack of absolute enthusiasm for theatre one encounters at the Berliner Ensemble. Obviously it simply underlines the complexity of theatre, the theatre going audiences in Berlin who clearly occupy a variety of niches according to taste, cost or whatever other factors might determine their frequenting of one theatre over another. I thought this was great knockabout entertainment, but entertainment that might have been better planned to accommodate the complexity of this play. The scenes, text, characters are familiar enough. To obtain something refreshingly original was very difficult. This play went some distance in obtaining or retaining that originality. 

 Paul Murphy, the OstBahnhof, Berlin

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