Schaubühne: “Professor Bernhardi”
They are still playing it six years after the premiere: Thomas Ostermeier’s production of Schnitzler’s play “Professor Bernhardi” with Jörg Hartmann (“Tatort”, “Weißensee”) in the title role. And in the meantime, the staging even seems to have become more topical. At that time, the pre-war anti-Semitism, which broke out after an alleged mistake on the part of the head of the clinic, seemed distant and perhaps even overcome. The prejudices and insinuations that feed the communication of enmity have now gained momentum again, partly as a result of the post-colonial discourse.
It’s not so much about a substantive discussion, but rather about the mechanism of demarcation and instrumentalized misunderstandings, which seems to be snapping into place again in the meta-discussion in the Documenta anti-Semitism controversy. At the Schaubühne you can experience in the cleanly and sensitively acted production how the rifts are first imperceptibly drawn, then become deeper and deeper and used for power struggles until the adversaries twist every word in each other’s mouth and can no longer keep up with straightening out and explaining the meant. Bad will does not have to be involved to trigger a communication catastrophe that can then only be resolved with violence. But maybe it’s even easier to bear when the bad guys are around. Ulrich Seidler
Professor Bernhardi Fri./Sat./Sun. 7.30 p.m. in the Schaubühne, tickets and information on Tel.: 890023 or schaubuehne.de
Concert: Tango Bravo in Koepenick
In a good mood: Tango Bravo from Berlinprivate
You don’t mess with Kylie “Can’t Get You Out Of My Head” Minogue. You just don’t do that! That’s why it’s a little cheeky that the Berlin newcomers Tango Bravo called their debut LP, which was released in May, with the same name as the most recent regular Kylie record: “Disco”. Whereby Tango Bravo also practice fraudulent labels: where it says disco, there are rather synth-affine Arctic Monkeys in it. If only Kylie knew!
Well, chances are pretty slim that Kylie will show up at the concert in Köpenick. But the five Berlin newcomers are heartily recommended to everyone else. If one or the other of the young men looks familiar, don’t be surprised; it doesn’t have to come from the last Tinder, but part of the band Tango Bravo also plays in another band called Treseninsolvenz. Hopefully no one will go bankrupt with the humane four euros of admission to the Köpenick concert. But the night at the bar in Treptow-Köpenick could of course take a while. It’s just Friday. Köpenicker nights are long and so. Well done! At the end someone dances the tango on the counter. Stefan Hochgesand
Café Köpenick, Seelenbinderstraße 54, Friday, September 16, 7 p.m. Admission, admission 4 euros
Bulky waste found in Marbach: Ricarda Willimann’s satirical legacy
If German humor could use anything, it would be a figurehead. One that positively influences and shapes him. This person now has a name, and that is Ricarda Willimann. According to the announcement text of the Other Library, where the volume dedicated to Willimann “Wer war ich?” was recently published, she is said to have been “the ancestor of German-language comedy”: as a cartoonist, gag writer and TV author, Willimann the German-language satire really works through.
It’s an amazing story. When a piece of bulky waste was found (!) in front of the Marbach Literature Archive, one came across Willimann’s humorous legacy, almost by accident: a diary that had never been read before and a few sketchbooks, which – it is said – were the West German satire from Loriot to the satirical magazine Titanic to Frank Elstner now appear in a completely different light.
Ricarda Willimann: “Who was I?”The Other Library
If this story seems a little too fabulous, you might not be so wrong. The secret of Willimann’s allegedly drastically underestimated history of action – a story that is reflected in this volume by Max Goldt, Paula Irmschler and Tex Rubinowitz, among others – is to be revealed this Saturday evening in the Charlottenburg Academic Association Hütte in the form of some funny live readings. Among others, Ulrike Sterblich, Jakob Hein, Miriam Wurster, Hauck & Bauer, Margarete Stokowski and others will be there. And anyone who knows German humor knows that things can only get better. Hanno Hauenstein
Ricarda Willimann: Who was I? A homage to the humorist Ricarda Willimann. Academic Association Hütte e. V., Carmerstraße 12, 10623 Berlin, admission: 10 euros
The second life of the Potsdamer Platz arcades
The Art Week performs the miracle: the dreary Potsdamer Platz arcades with the shops that have been empty for years and the lack of passers-by are rising from their agony. Not just as a boring shopping course. That had gone terribly wrong. The lavishly renovated arcades will now and hopefully become a place of culture in the long term – a place of art. In addition to the shopping on offer, you can eat and play in the food mile. From the start of Art Week, the place is called “The Playce” and wants to play a part in Berlin’s city life and also in the art circus, in particular with the art show “Art Extravaganza”. The title sounds very much like the luxury segment, an art sector for which Berlin has not exactly been an address until now, because one thinks more of London, Paris, Dubai or Qatar. And for that, the new art dealers and brokers need a lot of confidence and patience because of the overwhelming mass of competition with the sometimes modest opportunities for income in the local art trade, and also because of the high gallery rents.
With “Art Extravaganza”, Potsdamer Platz invites you to a freely accessible art exhibition during Berlin Art Week, here a sculpture by Claudia Wiesner.The Playce/Press Office
With regard to the annual Berlinale, whose central venue is Potsdamer Platz, a curated exhibition and cultural program will be a core area of ”The Playce”. A large indoor and outdoor show starts with the Art Week with eight national and international artist positions, the sculptures and installations extremely decorative, quite pleasing, with quite a few nice paraphrases on the great art of classical modernism and avant-garde, for example on Kandinsky, actually noticeable in mass taste, just like art in shopping centers or banks. It doesn’t matter, because it would be nice if life in the capital would hum with art in the arcades that have been lonely for so long. Ingeborg Ruthe
Pop-up event for players at Gamesweekberlin
After Friday for the industry, Gamesweekberlin dedicates Saturday to gamers in the form of a pop-up event. It is the first event in the UCI Colosseum on Schönhauser Strasse since the historic building reopened. From 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., visitors can test new and upcoming games as well as retro titles, Let’s Plays and a Mario Kart tournament are held in the cinema hall, where you can compete against well-known Twitch greats. Cosplay professionals give costume and make-up tips, numerous exhibitors from the gaming industry are on site. The day ends with a gaming quiz in the evening, for which tickets can also be purchased separately. Claudia Reinhard
Gamesweekberlin, UCI Colosseum, Saturday 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., adults 10 euros, reduced and in cosplay costume 7 euros, children (6–12 years) 5 euros
Documentary film: In the melting heart of the Greenland ice
When the glaciologist Alun Hubbard descends into the glacier mill secured only with a rope, you hold your breath. This hollow form in the Greenland ice is 180 meters deep, created by meltwater. Its walls wind like a spiral. Alun Hubbard is risking his life to study the melting ice in Greenland, because what is happening here is crucial to how climate change will alter the planet. The filmmaker Lars Ostenfeld accompanied him and two other glacier researchers for his documentary “Into the Ice”, Campino from the Toten Hosen acts as speaker. “In the film we get new perspectives on how the ice behaves and how it is viewed – as a frozen but moving sea. And also how to listen to the ice. The sound of the ice is incredible,” says Lars Ostenfeld. The film will be shown on Saturday in the Zeiss planetarium, followed by a public discussion with Lars Ostenfeld and Alun Hubbard.
Into the Ice September 17, 5:30 p.m. Zeiss Planetarium, tickets: Into the Ice | Stiftung Planetarium Berlin