Showing posts with label theater. Show all posts
Showing posts with label theater. Show all posts
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Much Ado about Nothing
[Click on the image to enlarge the poster for more information about the Gay Beggars' production of Much Ado about Nothing, running all through May in Basel.]
Thursday, January 03, 2008
Hamlet, Müller, Mühe
In September 1991, I went to the Deutsches Theater in Berlin to see Heiner Müller's production of Hamlet. This production was memorable in numerous ways. Here are a few:
1. The play within the play was Müller's own Hamletmaschine instead of The Murder of Gonzago.
2. Claudius was played by the wondrous Jörg Gudzuhn, whom I had seen a few weeks earlier in Kleist's Der zerbrochene Krug. A truly splendid actor.
3. There were three intermissions: the first and third were twenty minutes long; the second was an hour long, with barbecue.
4. It was after the long intermission that the production turned to Hamletmaschine.
5. The duel between Hamlet and Laertes was staged with tennis rackets. The actors were dressed accordingly, and they moved in mock slow motion, as if they were playing tennis.
5. Hamlet himself was played by the fabulous Ulrich Mühe, whose work I had the pleasure of seeing on film several times in the following weeks, especially in Bernhard Wicki's utterly overwhelming Das Spinnennetz, a three-hour-plus film of the greatest intensity, based on a Joseph Roth novella and also starring Armin Mueller-Stahl and Klaus Maria Brandauer. Why in hell is this not available on DVD?
So it was with great sadness that I learned the other day that Mühe had died this past summer, right after earning international acclaim for his role in Das Leben der Anderen. He died right when I was travelling to the U.S. with Miles and Luisa, so I missed the news until I saw it in a year-end roundup.
1. The play within the play was Müller's own Hamletmaschine instead of The Murder of Gonzago.
2. Claudius was played by the wondrous Jörg Gudzuhn, whom I had seen a few weeks earlier in Kleist's Der zerbrochene Krug. A truly splendid actor.
3. There were three intermissions: the first and third were twenty minutes long; the second was an hour long, with barbecue.
4. It was after the long intermission that the production turned to Hamletmaschine.
5. The duel between Hamlet and Laertes was staged with tennis rackets. The actors were dressed accordingly, and they moved in mock slow motion, as if they were playing tennis.
5. Hamlet himself was played by the fabulous Ulrich Mühe, whose work I had the pleasure of seeing on film several times in the following weeks, especially in Bernhard Wicki's utterly overwhelming Das Spinnennetz, a three-hour-plus film of the greatest intensity, based on a Joseph Roth novella and also starring Armin Mueller-Stahl and Klaus Maria Brandauer. Why in hell is this not available on DVD?
So it was with great sadness that I learned the other day that Mühe had died this past summer, right after earning international acclaim for his role in Das Leben der Anderen. He died right when I was travelling to the U.S. with Miles and Luisa, so I missed the news until I saw it in a year-end roundup.
Saturday, September 15, 2007
Gebirtig
Here's something for people in the Basel area: Gebirtig, a "fairy tale with music," by Joshua Sobol, based on the poetry of Mordechai Gebirtig. This production premieres in Weil am Rhein on September 20, with music by the wondrous Baith Jaffe Klezmer Orchestra (featuring Andreas Wäldele, my excellent but unfortunately erstwhile mandolin teacher—I simply don't have time to practice enough!).
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