The boat (drama)

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Data
Title: The boat
Author: Kjetil Bang-Hansen
Literary source: "Das Boot" novel by L.-G. Buchheim
Premiere: January 27, 2013
Place of premiere: Det Norske Teatret , Oslo
Director of the premiere Kjetil Bang Hansen
people

The boat is a play based on the novel of the same name by Lothar-Günther Buchheim . The dramatization was done by Kjetil Bang-Hansen . The piece premiered in the spring of 2012 at Det Norske Teatret in Oslo . The German premiere took place on October 31, 2013 at the Alten Schauspielhaus in Stuttgart after an arrangement by the artistic director Manfred Langner. The piece was also performed in this version in 2015 at the Ernst Deutsch Theater in Hamburg .

action

U 96 , one of the German submarines of the Second World War, has been commissioned to sink allied merchant ships. With the departure from a northern French Atlantic port occupied by the Navy, a joyfully awaited undertaking begins for the boat and crew. Ten young men under the command of an experienced commander and his officers are now waiting in the oppressive confines of the submarine for the opportunity to engage in a battle with the opposing armed forces. Among them is the naval correspondent Werner, who is charged with reporting on life on board a submarine "for the homeland". When he was fiddling with his camera in search of motifs on the upper deck, the commandant asked him not to photograph the men of the crew until a few weeks later when the boat returned to the base; because "then they have beards" . Below deck, Lieutenant Werner experienced a gruff tone, the oppressive narrowness and the frustration at being worn out in a possibly unsuccessful mission. In a conversation with crew member Ullmann, Lieutenant Werner made his first human contact with the otherwise largely unknown crew. The young ensign tells Werner about his engagement to a French woman, which, however, must be kept secret. After an unsuccessful battle with a destroyer, the commander had to attack recklessly, finally, the desired message reaches the boat: U 96 , the U-boat group "Reißewolf" allocated, which was put together to attack an Allied convoy. After weeks of expectant tension, this convoy is finally sighted. Although the convoy was secured by warships, the commander decided to attack and sank two ships. Then the boat is discovered by escort ships and attacked in turn. After damage to the submarine, water penetrates and the tension of the men takes on insane levels as the depth charge persists . In the face of two downed steamers and their castaways left behind, Lieutenant Werner is finally under the impression of the screams of the drowning on the bridge of the retreating submarine.

Differences to the literary original

Fundamentals that Buchheim's novel addresses, such as the incompetence of an uncoordinated leadership or, in view of the low successes, the submarines' missions, which are far too risky, as well as special topics such as the youth of the crew, officers loyal to the line and an inhumane command situation, such as by the Laconia order , are dealt with in the play. However, some contents differ:

people

The piece essentially follows the first half of the literary model with a few deviations. Some of the figures in the template are grouped together. For example, except for a central guest and the dirt, there are no teams. Their shares and lines of dialogue are taken over by the NCOs and the ensign, with whom Lieutenant Werner shares quarters. Its name also goes back to the role of Herbert Grönemeyer in the film adaptation of the material and is not mentioned in the book. The fictional character of the helmsman Kriechbaum, acting as the counterpart of the commandant in the novel, is incorporated into the characters of the 2nd WO and the boatswain, who, as in the novel, is called "Lamprecht", but has much more meaning in the play than in the literary one Template.

Boats and events

The boat becomes clear at the beginning - as in the film, named as U 96 . Buchheim uses the anonymizing abbreviation UA for his boat in the novel . This does not mean the actual UA - the author names all submarines that occur consecutively: UB, UC, UD, etc. In contrast to the stage play, no year is given, but only the fact that the undertaking runs at the end of the year. In the radio messages that the commander dictated during the attack by the submarine group on a convoy, he again referred to the boat as UA .

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ the submarine group Reißewolf operated in the fall of 1941 before Newfoundland . Karl Dönitz , the then commander of the submarines , liked to give the submarine groups martial-sounding names, his chief of staff Eberhard Godt preferred more subtle names such as "Fink" or "Amsel"
  2. ↑ he would have, if anything, Lieutenant Buchheim hot