Firstly; what a nice city Hamburg is! I would like to return there! För det andra! What a fantastic theater it turned out to be, comedy theater Winterhuder Fährhaus. An inviting glass building, with a ceiling height of several meters, large spaces for people to hang out, before and after the performances, to drink something good, eat something small, just be! So inviting!
Dessutom! A salon with perfect tilt, so that no head was in the way of another. Oddly enough, this is not always the case! Here, perfectly calculated, and yet only a gentle pleasant incline. The salon takes 540 places, and of course it was sold out, because it was a premiere. But already on the opening night, half of the entire play season was sold and the play is performed five nights a week for two months. Or was it even six nights a week? Hur som helst, so everyone was happy, not least the audience, but it's also great fun when the ensemble is happy and thinks it's super fun to portray one's text! It is, after all, part of the whole thing, when writing drama. It shouldn't just be fun or rewarding to SEE, it should also be fun to play.
I have seen Mitt namm er Erling in a few different editions, and it is always a surprise how one chooses to portray the miracle Erling itself and not least his disappearance. When the play was performed in Bautzen and was called Rekam Rojan ( it was played not only in German but also in the very small language of Sorbian , as spoken in Bautzen, i Dresden) he dissolved before our eyes, leaving behind only a small pile of clothes. Theater is magic!
I really enjoyed this staging ( också!) not least that Rosmarie and John who are in 65 age corresponds to today's 60- 65 yearlings. When I wrote the play, I was a little over 30 and imagined my parents' generation, but today they have caught up with me and must be done , förstås, som livssprakande 65åringar anno 2023. They had a wonderful interaction, and I understand that they both, Janina Hartwig and Sebastian Goder are ” TV- stars” as stated in a review – they are wonderful to follow, fantastic timing, great sense of humor and melancholy. Director Daniel Krauss – as well as the actors ( also the financial manager!) effusively told me how much they loved the play from the first reading. And the play has been in good hands with Daniel Krauss, really.
Men!
It's a comedy theater! And it's Christmas! And the ending must be happy, not open like what I originally wrote. And what power there was in the happy ending. I promise, it was FELT in the salon. Because at first you think it will end, where it originally ended – in an open end, which gives no answer and which can therefore be perceived as a bit gloomy. Although I thought to myself ”Consider your lives and be a little braver and do something !” when I wrote the open ending. It's not gloomy, however encouraging – which I like in and of itself because life really requires responsibility and action. At first, the Hamburg crowd thought it would end at that point, without answer – and the audience almost held its breath and the occasional handkerchief came forward, but then again, it goes on and on, what power I felt welled up, ( it surprised me) how happy they were, relieved, filled with tenderness and love and joy! Ja, ja, ja! It was a good lesson, a nice experience for me and once again the enormous ability of art to touch people was revealed, to awaken forces in us, to remind us of essential things and simply REFRESH our insides.
And so the audience loved Cems Erling! And as director Daniel Krauss said!” now we are releasing lots of Erlings into the world! I hope there will be a lot of them!They are needed!”
Now the play has two possible endings. You can choose the open, or you can choose the happy one.
A few days later, fine criticism appeared in the newspapers, big spreads and enthusiastic words about. One sentence that sums it all up ” a heartwarming comedy!” and the audience ” got a touching, thoughtful entertainment and responded with cheers!”
It all started as a bad Christmas satire(!) , it says in a review, men”quickly turns into a happy one, thought provoking, heartwarming comedy.”
The warmth and joy felt in the salon, I will take it with me right into Christmas itself!
