Claus Steigenberger, known from the BR series "Dahoam ist Dahoam", has written a new cabaret program.
We spoke to the Eurasburger.
Eurasburg - This 90-minute program will have it all: In 2015 Claus Steigenberger started to write his new cabaret program - and hardly six years have passed when it is already finished and ready for the stage.
Together with his partner Caro Hetenyi, she is an actress and singer, the premiere at his old place of work, the Geltinger Ambush, is planned for the beginning of November.
Our employee Dieter Klug spoke to Steigenberger about the new start in cabaret, 17 years after the legendary "fool's swing" was broken up.
Mr. Steigenberger, how did the new program come about?
To say it right from the start: It was a very long, difficult birth.
After the end of the fool swing, I worked a lot for other people and projects, for Helmut Schleich, for the BR TV series “Dahoam is dahoam”, I did readings with works by Oskar Maria Graf.
But above all, the 'inner pressure' got bigger and bigger, the notebooks always fuller, the variety of topics bigger and bigger.
With the refugee crisis in 2015, the pressure in the cabaret cauldron exploded.
And how did it all start?
With a lot of notes, chaos in my head, big problems with the form, I experimented, wrote, discarded, rewritten a lot - as I always do at the beginning of a project.
What exactly happened?
Between 2015 and 2019 I was overwhelmed by the issues, the problems in Germany and the world, but above all in our society.
Over time it became clear: It should be a program for two: for a partner and me.
And then I met Caro Hetenyi, and I realized very quickly that this versatile woman is my partner who fits me all around: She is a great singer and actress, is incredibly versatile, quick to react, self-confident and humble at the same time.
We met to read in Starnberg in March 2020, we quickly agreed that the premiere should be in autumn 2020 - a week later Corona struck with full force, and everything was overturned by the first lockdown.
And then? What happened next?
We artists all didn't know what to do next.
And the worst for me: Nothing was right anymore, everything collapsed.
As a result, I have rewritten it seven times to this day.
The duo Claus Steigenberger / Caro Hetenyi
Claus Steigenberger (63) studied theater studies with a focus on folk theater and education, came to acting through theater and works for film and television, including the daily soap opera on Bavarian television "Dahoam is Dahoam", also as a director. He founded the cabaret "Narrenschaukel" and organized lecture evenings for Oskar Maria Graf, Karl Valentin, Ludwig Thoma and Kurt Tucholsky. He also writes cabaret texts for Christian Springer and Martina Ottmann. Steigenberger was also a lecturer for media and theater education in Benediktbeuern and also at the Pedagogical Institute in Munich.
Caro Hetenyi (41) is an actress, singer and musical artist.
In 2008 she received a scholarship for the "Summer Academy for Bavarian Folk Theater" under the overall direction of Michael Lerchenberg.
The 41-year-old plays theater on many stages and stages musical readings.
Caro Hetenyi is known to the television audience through roles in "Dahoam is Dahoam", "The Rosenheim Cops" and "Brettl-Spitzen".
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Can you give a rough outline of “BavariLariFari” - without giving too much away?
Highly political!
The starting point or the initial spark is the statement: “Bavarian politics - that's pure puppet theater!” I picked up the sentence on the S-Bahn.
The whole thing is highly political, but not up-to-date, a longer cross-section through the highs, but mostly lows, of Bavarian, but also federal politics, which are often referred to as Puppet Theater.
And the Kasperl, or rather a buffoon, actually appears on stage.
The program is not just a stand-up cabaret, it has many echoes of the fool's swing, not least the music.
What do we have to imagine by this puppet?
He does not at all agree that politics are repeatedly referred to as puppet theater - this would be discredited.
Puppet theater and political theater are two pairs of boots, that's the story.
Kasperl is next to the cabaret artist Steigenberger and the woman with the three jobs so that she can pay her rent, the third person, so to speak, the third man.
Kasperl tells his story, has experienced a lot, his job is to make pure nonsense - and then the drama begins: the politicians mix everything and have nothing to do with me and my pure nonsense.
What is the core of it all, like the core of the matter?
In short, a mixture of a buffoon piece and a profound criticism of capitalism.
It's about pensioners collecting bottles, a virus that turned off the tap in the Oktoberfest tent, about Jesus Christ, Daniel Craig and Dr.
Sauter, the man in the gilded mask.
It's about princesses, wizards and a mighty crocodile, cum-ex-deals and tax fraud.
That sounds incredibly complex. How long will it take?
Normal length, around 90 minutes.
The problem with this: It is the driest matter, but the three people make it anything but dry, but very entertaining, entertaining.
That was the big challenge for me as a cabaret artist.
We didn't want to hold a seminar on economic policy, we wanted to offer entertaining political cabaret.
On the stage we will see the end result. How do we have to concretely imagine the years of creative process?
Eight full notebooks, while all of this evaporated, the criticism of capitalism and the criticism of unreflected belief in growth emerged.
Like a cook, I had to reduce the sauce and reduce it again and again.
My main problem was that I still didn't have a clear figure constellation - until I was on the S-Bahn and suddenly the puppet was there.
The rest then almost happened by itself. And the long time without performance opportunities inspired me to write and produce my own music for the piece, which then structures the whole thing, not just underlines: BavariLariFari done!
Finally, what do the three of you want to achieve with it?
I stick to Bertolt Brecht: “The most important task of the theater is to entertain people.” Nothing more and nothing less.
