Munich Residenz Theater: A horse goes up in the air
Created: 02/12/2022 17:28
By: Michael Schleicher
Flying horses - that only happens in the theatre.
Scene from "Das Käthchen von Heilbronn" with the famous Liliane Amuat as Gottschalk.
© Sandra Then/Munich Residenztheater
Elsa-Sophie Jach staged "Das Käthchen von Heilbronn" for the Munich Residenztheater and Heinrich von Kleist's jousting about aspects of Christa Wolf's story "Kein Ort.
Nowhere" added.
Our premiere review:
In fact, you've seen horses throw up.
But float a horse?
That's now available in the Cuvilliéstheater, where Elsa-Sophie Jach staged "Das Käthchen von Heilbronn" (first performed in 1810).
The in-house director of the Staatsschauspiel blended Heinrich von Kleist's “great historical knight's play” with passages from Christa Wolf's story “Kein Ort.
Nowhere” (1979), which tells of a fictitious meeting between Kleist (1777-1811) and his fellow poet Karoline von Günderrode (1780-1806).
"Das Käthchen von Heilbronn" celebrated its premiere in the Cuvilliéstheater
On Thursday (December 1, 2022) was the premiere of the almost two-and-a-half hour long, non-stop evening, during which the whole blood blew up.
The scene reveals a lot about Jach's way of working.
The director uses the theatre's toolbox extensively and with pleasure.
She is a storyteller and playmaker - whether shadow theater, confetti cannons or a fleeing horse without traction: her production is not afraid of silliness and is therefore fun.
Dream of love under the elder bush: Käthchen (Vincent zur Linden, left) and Count Wetter vom Strahl (Moritz Treuenfels).
© Sandra Then/Munich Residenztheater
However, it takes a while for the evening to reach its operating temperature.
Jach, who worked on the text version together with Michael Billenkamp, begins with the tea party from Wolf's prose work, with Kleist and Günderrode as guests.
She lets these scenes play out behind closed curtains, projected into the hall as a film.
That takes time and is unnecessary.
Above all, since Jonas Alsleben's video work will complement, comment on and advance the events in a very harmonious, funny and dramaturgically clever way as the production progresses.
Elsa-Sophie Jach reflects the poet Kleist in the Käthchen figure
In the character of Käthchen, the director recognizes aspects of the poet, such as the enormous inner conviction that both share.
By doubling the character, Jach, who last staged "Werther" at the Residenztheater, allows the footnotes to the drama to play along.
Sounds terribly dry, like nonsense from German studies, but is very appealing, enlightening - and provides the necessary distance to the original, which is sometimes stuffed with references and motifs.
However, Jach's access succeeds above all because Vincent zur Linden elegantly switches back and forth between his soulful Käthchen and the equally obsessively driven Kleist, literally falling from one role to the other.
Liliane Amuat should also be mentioned from the well-disposed ensemble, who succeeds in a fine role design as Gottschalk:
Loud cheering after the premiere of "Käthchen" in the Cuvilliéstheater
Above all, however, this "Käthchen" - the first new production of the material at the house since the departure of director Dieter Dorn eleven years ago - is a spectacle with show values and sometimes better, sometimes worse singing, rap and dance interludes.
Marlene Lockemann has built a wonderful adventure playground on the stage, with a Plexiglas castle and a half-pipe path on which the actors run, slide and rest.
The trio of Maximilian Hirning, Juri Kannheiser and Manfred Mildenberger provides the right soundtrack for this fast-paced dance of knights on various percussion and keyboard instruments.
Big cheers.
(More theater? Read our review of “The Rue de Lourcine Affair” at the Munich Residenz Theater here.)
