2024-04-26 14:42:19
Two months after the playwright, director and director of the Berlin Volksbühne René Pollesch died unexpectedly, “his house” is giving him his last escort. At Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz the black flags with the robber bike smiley hang at half-mast, with a banner emblazoned between them with the words “Celebrate what you love”. And here, where everyone really loved Pollesch, there is a celebration. First with dance and music in the opening act, then almost three hours on the big stage. The tickets were so popular that the side of the theater collapsed under the onslaught.
One might usually think of canonization as a formal affair. But not at the Volksbühne, where stubbornness is celebrated. René Pollesch is quickly declared to be Jesus by the choreographer Florentina Holzinger, who is naked except for a navy cap. Around her is a troop of naked sailors who pay homage to the great captain who has now disembarked. Pollesch sacrificed himself, says Holzinger, and the naked men pose for the “Last Supper.” On this unusual evening of remembrance, death is celebrated and life is celebrated.
René Pollesch at a press conference on the “Future of the Volksbühne”
Source: dpa/Britta Pedersen
“Everything is arranged,” says Martin Wuttke, who, in jeans, a heart shirt and a cowboy hat, is the first of the Pollesch actors to appear at this event under the title “Throw away your ego and celebrate what you love – For René”. come on stage in the evening. Floating above everyone like a disembodied creature is the dreamlike fabric monster from “The Rise and Fall of a Curtain and His Life in Between”, Pollesch’s opening production in autumn 2021 as artistic director of the Volksbühne. He celebrated his first successes at this house in the 2000s, and now he wanted to renew the theater here as director.
In the opening production there was talk of a “resurrection hustle and bustle”; after the Dercon disaster and the Dörr interlude, this was an announcement that – typical for Pollesch – was also ironically undermined. Now that Pollesch’s time as director has ended so suddenly, others are responsible for the “resurrection” hustle and bustle. Wuttke recites Pollesch’s “Speech to those born afterward (adjusted),” which says: “This is a recall campaign. I call you back. Where are you now? Are you there in the stars?”
also read
There will be no pathetic speeches on this evening, instead there will be singing, dancing and playing. And although you can hardly write something as absurd as “Pollesch would have liked that”, he probably would have liked it. Just don’t wallow in feelings, he already didn’t like that in his theater work, from which you can see a few excerpts and reminiscences again this evening. Wuttke, Milan Peschel and Trystan Pütter appear in red one-piece suits and cowboy hats as the three amigos from “Volksbühnen-Diskurs”, who fill the breaks with clownish slapstick numbers and ensure laughter. Later, the “No Fear” Michelin man from “Nobody thinks they are beautiful” wobbles across the stage.
“We won’t show the best scenes tonight because none of us could bear them,” says Fabian Hinrichs, who floats down from above. Hinrichs plays scenes from “Kill Your Darlings!” Streets of Berladelphia” and “Belief in the possibility of completely changing the world”, which are among the countless Pollesch evenings that you will probably never forget. Some sentences from the old pieces now take on a new sound: “We’re missing something.” Or: “Maybe we’ll see each other again, sometime. It doesn’t have to be tomorrow.”
The “authentic cow”
As with a real Pollesch piece, there is a great soundtrack. Tocotronic singer Dirk von Lotzow (who made “About one who moved out because he could no longer afford the rent” with Pollesch) sings about “doubts about togetherness and normativity”, Pollesch hits like “All by myself” are playing. by Céline Dion, “There is a light that never goes out” by The Smiths and “True love will find you at the end” by Daniel Johnston. Songs that always fit, but this evening even more so. One of the most moving moments of this truly non-tear-inducing evening is when Sir Henry at the grand piano intones The Beach Boys with a large choir: “God only knows what I’d be without you”.
also read
It wouldn’t be an evening for and about Pollesch if it wasn’t discussed which theater is being performed here. Wuttke complains about the “final stop opinion” and all the “individualization and self-realization shit”. For Pollesch, it was a central insight that in the 21st century “alienation appears to be its opposite,” as stated in the punctually published interview volume “Arbeit. Brecht. Cinema” by Thomas Irmer can be read. Pollesch saw that at a time when everyone is supposed to be constantly creative, suddenly the problems of artists are those of society as a whole. This is what made his theater so contemporary, without ever panting for topicality.
Here you will find content from third parties
In order to display embedded content, your revocable consent to the transmission and processing of personal data is necessary, as the providers of the embedded content require this consent as third party providers [In diesem Zusammenhang können auch Nutzungsprofile (u.a. auf Basis von Cookie-IDs) gebildet und angereichert werden, auch außerhalb des EWR]. By setting the switch to “on”, you agree to this (revocable at any time). This also includes your consent to the transfer of certain personal data to third countries, including the USA, in accordance with Art. 49 (1) (a) GDPR. You can find more information about this. You can revoke your consent at any time using the switch and privacy at the bottom of the page.
Even the funeral march led by Sophie Rois and Silvia Rieger ends in a theater-reflexive choir scene in which – another spectacular performance of the evening – a real cow comes onto the stage. The “authentic cow” as the ultimate bogeyman of the Pollesch Theater – and as a gloomy prognosis for the future of the Volksbühne? “Nothing is more devastating in the theater than working on authenticity,” is another of Pollesch’s conversations from “Work. Brecht. Cinema”. Or as Rois says, looking at the cow: “They’re playing theater again, it’s terrible.”
What will happen next with the Volksbühne is unclear. Pollesch’s texts will disappear with his productions because he has forbidden re-enactments of his pieces. Eternal life is incompatible with the fleeting nature of the theater anyway, but something of Pollesch still lives on in his actors. The naked sailors made a good suggestion: canonization. Everything you can see from Pollesch, over an entire season, like in the shrine at Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz – for the transition. A very last supper before disappearing. And do this in his memory.
#Berliner #Volksbühne #remembers #René #Pollesch #dont #wallow #feelings