Munich Volkstheater: Get into the forest

Created: 03/15/2022, 16:04

By: Michael Schleicher

Munich Volkstheater: "Hyper" focuses on the relationship between man and nature.

© Florian Schaumberger/Munich Volkstheater

“Hyper” is the name of the directorial debut of video artist Florian Schaumberger.

The two-person play has now premiered at the Munich Volkstheater.

Read our premiere review here:

Leaf blowers are the plague.

They are quite overwhelming proof that man is perhaps not the crown of creation, but rather its industrial accident.

Embarrassing and problematic instead of gorgeous and perfect.

The most glorious storm cloud is piling up over Stage 2 in the Munich Volkstheater, big and threatening.

Lightning flashes through the darkness like will-o’-the-wisps, you can hear the rain pattering heavily and the thunder rumbling horribly – as if what was inside was suddenly outside.

But then a leaf blower roars and destroys the fantastic natural spectacle in no time.

If the cloud blows away, the thunderstorm simply blows away - and a little later it continues to make such a tremendous noise that not a word of what the allotment gardener is saying on the screen can be understood.

Munich Volkstheater: "Hyper" runs on Stage 2

Yes, leaf blowers are a real nuisance - that makes the prelude to the premiere "Hyper" great.

Because these few minutes contain (almost) everything that Florian Schaumberger tells in the next two hours.

Unfortunately, however, it won't be able to match the intensity, the ambiguity and the impressive aesthetics of the beginning.

Schaumberger, born in 1988, is a video artist.

With "Hyper" he makes his debut as a director;

Sunday, March 13, 2022, was the warmly and enthusiastically applauded premiere in the new building at Tumblingerstraße 29. With texts and reports by Friedrich Hölderlin (1770-1843) and the two actors Vincent Sauer, born in 1996, and Heinz, born in 1945 In “Hyper”, Brenner examines the alienation between man and nature – and initially encounters a great deal of absurdity: there is a longing for the authentic, for the untouched nature of meadows, forests, mountains – and at the same time the (likely also comfortable) use for sports and recreation , as a selfie backdrop and food supplier.

In "Hyper" Vincent Sauer and Heinz Brenner are on stage

Of course it is a coincidence due to Corona that the other two municipal stages also premiered last weekend with their joint production "Pigs".

But Kammerspiele and Schauburg also want to find out something about how people deal with creation.

At the Volkstheater, however, Schaumberger quickly and thoroughly fell into the woods - not just in the literal sense.

Because he moves away from the comprehensive overview of the first half hour and turns to the inner life of a nameless young man who is increasingly exposed to the influences of flora and fauna.

However, this is only partially exciting and hardly enlightening.

"Hyper" might have been better made into a movie

Vincent Sauer, who plays this good-hearted nature boy, cannot be blamed for that: he manages the two hours alone;

Heinz Brenner's interventions from the auditorium are too indecisive for the production to generate sparks.

In addition, Sauer has to allude to the power of the images on the screen, which massively dominates the stage.

The work of cameraman Niko Knoblauch is also on the plus side: he often finds great shots and elegiac rides.

Above all, he and the director always succeed in editing the scenes in a fascinating way - and thereby unmask our dealings with the environment.

Maybe “Hyper” would have been better made into a movie.