Status: 15.01.2024, 17:12 PM
By: Michael Schleicher
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Smiling financial shark: Robin Sondermann as Christopher Komann in Cologne's "Tatort: Pyramide". © Thomas Kost/WDR
8.75 million people watched the "Tatort" on ARD on Sunday. Thus, the Cologne case "Pyramide" was clearly in the favor of the audience. Robin Sondermann, who impressed as a financial shark, began his career at the Munich Volkstheater.
The day after, of course, you can let the numbers speak for themselves: 8.75 million people watched "Tatort" on ARD on Sunday (January 14, 2024); thus the Cologne case "Pyramide" was clearly ahead of the game of the Germans at the European Handball Championship. 28.1 percent market share – a statement. But sober observation doesn't get you anywhere when you want to approach an actor like Robin Sondermann, who contributed a lot to the film's success with his pinpoint acting. Sondermann is one of those slick financial sharks who find themselves so infinitely horny, disgustingly smart, who act as if they motivate everything and everyone – and yet who only have their own profit in mind. A role that someone else would have quickly turned into a caricature. A role that Sondermann has subtly balanced between wit and madness. A feat that has become rare on television.
In "Tatort: Pyramide" Robin Sondermann impressed as the slick Christopher Komann
Munich theatre fans know that the 40-year-old can do just that, that his play is always an investigation into the human condition. It was here, at the Volkstheater, that the Hamburg-born actor was a member of the ensemble for four years from 2008 onwards. And anyone who saw him on stage on Brienner Strasse knew: Even if the production is meagre – when Sondermann plays along, it's worth it.
As a debtor in Salzburg: Robin Sondermann on the chain of Nicolas Ofczarek's Everyman. © imago stock
Munich was the first stop after his acting studies in Hanover. He came to the Isar at a time when artistic director Christian Stückl was turning his Volkstheater into a real talent shed: Friedrich Mücke, who was to have his breakthrough in the cinema in 2010 in the film "Friendship!", played here; Xenia Tiling was there, who conquered the hearts of not only the Bavarian audience in the BR series "Servus Baby" at the latest; Stückl's troupe included Nico Holonics, now a star of the Berliner Ensemble, and Stefan Ruppe, who until recently practiced on ARD's "In aller Freundschaft – Die junge Ärzte". And Robin Sondermann.
Robin Sondermann played at the Munich Volkstheater from 2008 to 2012
When Aeschylus' "The Oresteia" premiered in 2010 in a production by Christine Eder, our critic wrote: "Sondermann proves once again what a stroke of luck he is for the Volkstheater. He takes time for his Orestes and explores the motives that drive him to murder his mother. And after the deed, you torture yourself with him." This time-taking for a character to penetrate and understand is the great quality of this actor. A quality that he also saved through worse productions such as "Anna Karenina" (2010) or "Solaris" (2011). Perhaps his best performance in Munich was in 2011 as the groom in Miloš Lolic's highly aestheticized and strictly rhythmic experimental arrangement of García Lorca's "Blood Wedding". A nightmare in words and music that touched. Artistic Director Stückl then cast Sondermann in his "Everyman" at the Salzburg Festival: for three summers, he made the most of his mini-role as a debtor on Cathedral Square.
One of his strongest Munich theatre works: as a groom in the "Blood Wedding" at the Volkstheater. © Arno Declair/Münchner Volkstheater
In 2012, Sondermann moved on, to the Theater Bremen – and subsequently increasingly in front of the camera. He can also do film and television. 8.75 million people were convinced of this on Sunday. Viewed soberly. It gets more emotional when you read Sondermann's Instagram channel the day after the "Tatort": "Strong", "great", "terrific" are some of the most common adjectives that appear in the comments. And a lot of other praise, like this one: "I was already a fan of the Volkstheater, but today was really great tennis. Respect and thank you!"