2023-07-16 17:35:14
Wiesbaden – To poke fun at your own boss in a play – you have to have that much courage first…
Angela Dorn (41, Greens) has been Hesse’s Minister for Science and Art for four years and has been heavily criticized. First the Documenta in Kassel with the terrible anti-Semitic works of art. Then the swastika scandal surrounding the Jewish orchestra director Ilia Jossifov (53) at the State Theater, who had to squat under the Nazi symbol.
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After the summer break and just before the Hesse elections on October 8th, Uwe Eric Laufenberg (62), the director of the state theater with director Clemens Bechtel (58) and the dramaturg Marie Johannsen (31), brings the play “The Ministry” to the state theater. A comedic reckoning with politics, especially with the Green Minister Dorn. But also with the media and art.
Uwe Eric Laufenberg (62) is one of Germany’s best-known theater makers, is an actor, director and has been director of the Staatstheater Wiesbaden since 2014
Foto: Andreas Arnold / Frankfurt / Springer SE
In the fictitious plot, which is based on Dorn’s work, the Minister of Art is called Annika Grohn-Kamp (41). Laufenberg: “We are confronted with a ministry that is green, headed by a green minister and a green state secretary. Theater knowledge has been lost there. It wasn’t always like that, but now the ministry and Kafka’s castle have a lot of similarities. We are no longer met objectively, we are only scandalous robbers who are best muted. Theater can be as dangerous for a ministry as Documenta.”
Art Minister Angela Dorn (41, 2nd from left) at the Scandal Documenta 2022 with members of the Ruanagrupa collective – which showed ugly anti-Semitic art
Photo: Karsten Socher Photography / www.KS-Fotography.net
Dorn is accompanied in the play by a journalist who reminds of her childhood friend Sandra Stalinski (41). Bechtel: “She did a radio feature about Dorn on Deutschlandfunk, that was a starting point for this piece.”
Scandal piece comes on stage before the Hesse election
Johannsen: “There are elections in the fall. Kittens are mediated on her Instagram account. This is not content.”
There is criticism of the minister’s handling of the theatre. Johannsen: “We are always referred to the ministerial infantry. We then sit with people who haven’t been seen in the theater for a long time. It’s totally frustrating.”
Dramaturg Marie Johannsen with Laufenberg’s dog Anton (1, Bearded Collie)
Foto: Andreas Arnold / Frankfurt / Springer SE
Dorn himself was hardly in the theater during Laufenberg’s tenure as artistic director: “1.5 times. Although as a minister, as a landlady, she has a position in the state theatre,” says the director.
“Saved toads in the past, today Dorn rushes past toads in his company car”
Laufenberg already staged a highly political play in 2020: “Casino”. It was about the political felt about ex-Mayor Sven Gerich (42, SPD). But by then he had already lost his job. Dorn is still in office and is fighting for positions and a coalition in the Hesse elections.
Bechtel: “I’m not interested in criticism of the Greens as a party. But the friction is particularly great when an activist like Dorn, who used to save toads, now rushes past the toads in her company car. And this friction has potential for theater.”
Clemens Bechtel (58) is the director of the play
Foto: Andreas Arnold / Frankfurt / Springer SE
In addition, the two sat out scandals. After the anti-Jewish art at the Documenta, the Jewish orchestra director Jossifov is said to have been bullied – and had to sit under a swastika to tell the audience. All of this is said to have happened in the room of the managing director Holger von Berg (57). It reports to the Hessian Ministry for Science and Art. Jossifov said at the time: “He didn’t like me from day one, he showed me that all the time. I was bypassed, cornered, bullied. I had to sit under a swastika in Holger von Berg’s office.”
The Hessian Ministry for Science and Art is within walking distance of the State Theater
Foto: Andreas Arnold / Frankfurt / Springer SE
Laufenberg: “After the BILD report on the tragic Ilia Jossifov case, Dorn became paralyzed with fear instead of approaching the person. The ministry did a study and then made it disappear. Everything that is real they have hidden in the Ministry so that it does not get into the press. They are afraid of us instead of dealing with us.”
Minister did not want to talk to theater makers about the play
Dorn was not available to interview the theater makers while researching the play. Laufenberg: “This shows that this ministry is filled with fear. They told Johannsen: ‘Everything you need to know is on the ministry’s website’.”
Laufenberg stunned: “The Greens are idealists, want to stand for a different policy. And hit hard by reality, act in a more authoritarian manner than others. They try to take make-up off and lie away.”
The Wiesbaden State Theater was built in 1892/1894 and is 52% owned by the State of Hesse and 48% by the City of Wiesbaden
Foto: Andreas Arnold / Frankfurt / Springer SE
For Johannsen, commenting on political and social events is one of the theatre’s tasks: “We are the court jesters of politics.”
The play has what it takes to become the theater scandal of the year. Isn’t Laufenberg afraid for his job? After all, Dorn is his boss: “It may be that Minister of Art Dorn wants to remove me after the play. If she dares. But those who deal well with criticism are better off than silencing criticism. And that’s how it often goes in politics: Politicians resign because they don’t want to face reality and they stumble with the truth.”
The premiere of “The Ministry” is on September 15th in the Wiesbaden State Theater.
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