With “Gretchen 89ff.” Katja Kurze brings a popular comedy to the stage in the east wing of the Chemnitz theater in the Spinnbau, which typifies theater people and at the same time exposes human stereotypes. However, this does not stand up to comparison with another production, also because part of the punch line is missing.
With “Gretchen 89ff.” Katja Kurze brings a popular comedy to the stage in the east wing of the Chemnitz theater in the Spinnbau, which typifies theater people and at the same time exposes human stereotypes. However, this does not stand up to comparison with another production, also because part of the punch line is missing.
The world is a stage. And this is played by people. Since people are known to be different, the nature of those who work behind the scenes on the productions naturally has a strong influence on the type of events on stage. The world and the theater are very similar there. At least the stage types are in Lutz Hübner’s comedy “Gretchen 89ff.” staged with relish – also in the production by Katka Kurzie in the east wing of the Chemnitz playhouse in the Spinnbau.
Fun on stage and laughter in the audience
The sometimes really funny production finds and gets its laughs in the right places. Entertaining slapstick that premiered last Friday. Director Katja Kurze is herself an actress in the theater ensemble, so she is involved in the material. She stages the ten scenes, in which one director or actress type takes center stage, as a chamber play. The three players Magda Decker, Sven Zinkan and René Schmidt switch between the roles. Her love of the game, of rolling out the roles from stereotypical to unpleasant people, as they also sit in the executive chairs of other professions, is definitely transferred to the audience.
Worth seeing, but…
Worth seeing, but: Many people in Chemnitz remember a different production of “Gretchen 89 ff”. Ten years ago, the Fritz-Theater, which was still quite young at the time, brought them to the small off-stage in the former Wismut Theater in the Rabenstein district of Chemnitz. Until then, the ensemble led by Isabelle Weh and Hardy Hoosman had primarily won audiences with humorous chamber plays. In 2012, they attracted the attention of the established cultural scene in the city for the first time with their Gretchen. With this they took a risk, staged elaborately and edgy, bent the low-threshold comedy material towards a multi-faceted reflection on the nature of theater and the people who shape it. Under the direction of Isabelle Weh, the piece was filled with video installations and game endings that fit the type. The comedy became a play for a big stage.
Memories of the Fritz Theater still present after ten years
The staging of the theater has to compete against a play that still remains in impressions ten years after its premiere. Of course it’s legitimate that other theaters pick it up. It is also not unusual for houses financed by the state, i.e. by society, to bring successes and impulses from off-stages into their own theater and thus to a larger audience, especially since Gretchen is a popular play.
Acting contains dissolution
In this particular case, Katka Kurze’s production unfortunately does not stand up to comparison with Isabelle Weh’s. Also because the current production is missing an important point, the punchline, so to speak.
The core of the play is to rehearse the same scene in which Gretchen finds a box in her room in “Faust” – just with different types of directors and actresses. The staging in the east wing does not show what actually emerges from this. In the Fritz Theater, however, the scene was briefly alluded to in the respective reading. So the viewers could see for themselves whether the result worked for them or not.
Because that’s the real highlight of Lutz Hübner’s “Gretchen 89ff.”: It shows what happens behind the scenes and that it doesn’t really matter to the audience who rehearsed how and what power imbalances and sensitivities there are in the production team. The result works in its own way, regardless of whether it was a Freudian, a bloke, an egomaniac or a player fresh out of drama school.
Pretty but not risky
Of course, the world isn’t just the stage, it’s the audience. This is also made up of types. Some like the artful staging of the Man of Sorrows, do the warhorse’s conventional but allusive classics and some appreciate the brevity of the strings, which leave enough room for the wine afterwards after the performance. The staging in the theater turns out to be more classic and conventional, avoids risks and does not alienate the audience with strenuous digressions and ambivalences. In this reading, however, it works very well.
The play will be shown again on February 9 at 8 p.m. in the east wing of the Spinnbau. The performance on January 29 is sold out. Further performance dates and information at www.theater-chemnitz.de.