Deutsches Theater: The real surprise is just how funny it is
Place: Stratford
Event: Supported by the Goethe-Institut Toronto, the Stratford Festival proudly presents Michael Thalheimer's critically-acclaimed production of Lessing's classic "Emilia Galotti".
As the cherry on top of their excellent 2008 season, the Stratford Shakespeare Festival has brought in the Deutsches Theater Berlin for a handful of performances of their celebrated distillation of Gotthold Lessing's Emilia Galotti.
Here's a rare opportunity to see how they play with the classics in Europe, where the director is king, at a Canadian festival where text is the democratically elected dictator.
Emilia Galotti is a perfect illustration of the pitfalls and the pleasures of the continental approach. In director Michael Thalheimer's dynamic version of the 1772 classic, Lessing's five acts are condensed to a laconic 90 minutes. (...)
The production features only two props: an envelope and a gun, both items commonly used to send a message. Grafin Orsina, Gonzaga's mistress before he spotted Emilia, carries the latter like an icy Bond Girl. In an evening that is more intellectually than emotionally compelling, Nina Hoss provides the biggest chill here as Orsina, distorting her face by pressing the revolver into her temple. She also gets the best line, as Marinelli ties his tongue and body into knots trying to explain why Emilia is there: “Nothing is coincidence, least of all intention.” (And that line comes a good century before Freud.) But Lessing's words are largely afterthoughts, and his concerns about the unchecked power the aristocracy has over the middle-class are jettisoned for a general rumination on sexual obsession.
When there is dialogue, the characters race through it at high speed, like a cartoon character eating corn on the cob. (An English translation appears in surtitles.) Thalheimer's focus is on hypnotic, ritualized movement: pokes that penetrate to a character's core; a kiss that strangles a man like a boa constrictor; and the Prince's constant writhing as he wrestles with his conflicted conscience.
The real surprise for me about this production of Emilia Galotti, which has toured the world since premiering in 2001, is just how funny it is. This is supposedly Lessing's darkest work, but it is brimming with humour, both twisted and cartoonish.
It's a reality check for our North American artistic prejudices. You thought German theatre was humourless? You were wrong. You thought German theatre was pretentious? Well okay, you might have a point. But with explosions onstage and HDTV-sharp performances honed over seven years of touring, Emilia Galotti is never boring. Catch it quick – it's only here this weekend.
Event: Supported by the Goethe-Institut Toronto, the Stratford Festival proudly presents Michael Thalheimer's critically-acclaimed production of Lessing's classic "Emilia Galotti".
As the cherry on top of their excellent 2008 season, the Stratford Shakespeare Festival has brought in the Deutsches Theater Berlin for a handful of performances of their celebrated distillation of Gotthold Lessing's Emilia Galotti.
Here's a rare opportunity to see how they play with the classics in Europe, where the director is king, at a Canadian festival where text is the democratically elected dictator.
Emilia Galotti is a perfect illustration of the pitfalls and the pleasures of the continental approach. In director Michael Thalheimer's dynamic version of the 1772 classic, Lessing's five acts are condensed to a laconic 90 minutes. (...)
The production features only two props: an envelope and a gun, both items commonly used to send a message. Grafin Orsina, Gonzaga's mistress before he spotted Emilia, carries the latter like an icy Bond Girl. In an evening that is more intellectually than emotionally compelling, Nina Hoss provides the biggest chill here as Orsina, distorting her face by pressing the revolver into her temple. She also gets the best line, as Marinelli ties his tongue and body into knots trying to explain why Emilia is there: “Nothing is coincidence, least of all intention.” (And that line comes a good century before Freud.) But Lessing's words are largely afterthoughts, and his concerns about the unchecked power the aristocracy has over the middle-class are jettisoned for a general rumination on sexual obsession.
When there is dialogue, the characters race through it at high speed, like a cartoon character eating corn on the cob. (An English translation appears in surtitles.) Thalheimer's focus is on hypnotic, ritualized movement: pokes that penetrate to a character's core; a kiss that strangles a man like a boa constrictor; and the Prince's constant writhing as he wrestles with his conflicted conscience.
The real surprise for me about this production of Emilia Galotti, which has toured the world since premiering in 2001, is just how funny it is. This is supposedly Lessing's darkest work, but it is brimming with humour, both twisted and cartoonish.
It's a reality check for our North American artistic prejudices. You thought German theatre was humourless? You were wrong. You thought German theatre was pretentious? Well okay, you might have a point. But with explosions onstage and HDTV-sharp performances honed over seven years of touring, Emilia Galotti is never boring. Catch it quick – it's only here this weekend.
by J. Kelly Nestruck, The Globe and Mail, 7November 2008
info@toronto.goethe.org
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