The Old Dessauer (play)
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| Title: | The old Dessauer |
| Genus: | Comedy based on Karl May |
| Original language: | German |
| Author: | Karl Thiele |
| Literary source: | Karl May : various Dessauer humoresques |
| Publishing year: | 2012 |
| Premiere: | June 29, 2012 |
| Place of premiere: | Anhaltisches Theater Dessau: meadow at the Bauhaus |
| Place and time of the action: | Anhalt in the 18th century |
| Director of the premiere | Karl Thiele |
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The old Dessauer. Historical spectacle based on Karl May's Humoresken is a comedy by Karl Thiele based on motifs by Karl May , which premiered on June 29, 2012 at the Anhaltisches Theater in Dessau .
occasion
Leopold I , Prince of Anhalt-Dessau, is one of the most colorful and at the same time most contradicting figures in the history of Anhalt. Karl May has dedicated himself to this "gnarled warrior" in his humoresque (published by Karl May Verlag ). However, he was never able to put the plan to write a Schwank about that "old Dessauer" into practice.
On the occasion of the celebrations “800 years of Anhalt” and in the year in which the death of Karl May was celebrated for the hundredth time, a comedy about the “old man from Dessauer” came on stage, which above all brought the anecdotal legacy of this legendary figure to the fore .
Literary templates
The plot of the stage play largely followed May's “A Prince-Marshal as a Baker”, enriched with characters and motifs from other “Dessau” stories: The subplot about Emma and other short scenes come from the humoresque “A little piece of the old Dessauer” (today Title in volume 42 of the collected works: "The Plum Thief"), the confrontation with a constable, whom Leopold reproaches for not being able to read his incorrectly scribbled order, was borrowed from "Drei Feldmarschalls", the figure of Mother Röse , the landlady in the final picture, from “Fürst und Reitknecht” (today: “Soul Seller”).
content
Prince Leopold I needs reinforcements against Prince Friedrich Ludwig of Hanover . To recruit new soldiers and watch his sergeant's love affair on the side, he mingles with the people incognito, disguised as a journeyman baker. But since one cannot simply shed princely behavior with one's clothes, a crazy game about one's true identity soon develops.
The military and private knots were tied as follows:
Ernst von Hartegg, an officer from hostile Hanover, brought a complaint from his prince because Leopold had recruited soldiers on its territory. The tense atmosphere, escalating to the point of blows with Leopold's choleric temperament, made Hartegg's own advertisement futile: He wanted to marry Auguste von Liebau, a daughter of the "Dessauer" country, who fled to the border area at Lüchow Castle before the prince of Hanover was stalked would have.
The prince heard of two other cross-border marriage plans during his audience: his own sergeant had an eye on the Hanoverian Anna Grunert, who also lived as Auguste's partner at Lüchow Castle, but who forbade her stepfather, the innkeeper and baker Hillmann, to marry . Another love story revolved around a Saxon noblewoman: Emma - Karl May was freshly in love when he wrote the template in 1875 - had fled Dresden to marry a soldier from Anhalt.
"At Lüchow Castle", not only did the Hanoverian prince unsuccessfully approach Auguste, but Leopold, disguised as a journeyman baker, explored the situation before he had his recruits drilled in the " Gardelegen advertising station ". After the break, the wrong journeyman drank with the landlord and his sons in the "Gasthaus und Bäckerei Hillmann" and then went to baking in a frenzy and full of amateurism. Finally, in the "Wirtshaus, Zum Alten Dessauer '" groups of dancers and gymnasts showed their skills and created a folk festival atmosphere, until both sides of the spectator seats from Anhalt and Hanover pitted against each other and Leopold blew to the finale: He let the enemy prince, Hillmann together with sons in the army service and gave three happy couples his blessing.
Reviews
Reviews of the premiere wrote:
- Thomas Altmann: Schnurrwich meets modernity . in: Mitteldeutsche Zeitung , July 2, 2012 ( online )
- Helmut Rohm: Karl Thiele staged according to Karl May humoresques. Summer open air at the Anhaltisches Theater. An entertaining journey into history , in: Volksstimme , July 5, 2012 ( online )
- Henning Franke: The Prince and the Caterpillars - A Karl May rarity at the original location: “The Old Dessauer” was pure pleasure in Dessau . In: Karl May & Co. No. 130/2012, pp. 82–84:
“Faithfulness to the original text, good performers and a folk festival atmosphere, which was carried over to the audience and drinks sellers during the break, made the performance a sheer pleasure.
Karl Thiele stood out from the consistently good ensemble of the Anhaltisches Theater Dessau , who led his colleagues as well as a director and as a prince his subjects. The performance, which Hans-Jürgen Müller-Hohensee showed in four fundamentally different roles, was congenial : in the framework act as a city guide, in the audience scene as a privy councilor, in the main act as Hillmann baker and at the festival as the joke teller Gaudimax, whose text was constantly interrupted, to show the prince and his sergeant, sometimes the prince and his officer, who were watching each other. As a prince, Thorsten Köhler drew the wonderful caricature of an unworthy ruler who, with white powdered cheeks and red painted lips, submitted to the silly ideal of beauty of his time. As a sergeant, Gerald Fiedler was a true man who outwardly resembled Siegfried Wischnewski , the Hagen from Harald Reinl's two-part film “ The Nibelungs ”. As a resolutely gripping Anna, Susanne Hessel was the right lady of the heart for him, who even stood up to the prince with slaps in the face when he became insolent. And as Auguste, Katja Sieder upgraded her lyrically somewhat pale noble role with wordless comments when she enviously compared Anna's plump bosom with her own, less luscious one.
Even during the break, the play continued: an invalid from Leopold's battles begged a sutler who did not want to be disturbed by him selling the drinks - everyone involved had a lot of fun with the thing that infected the audience. “Recommend us to others,” asked a stage worker as he set about dismantling. Unfortunately, there was only ten days between the premiere on June 29th and the last performance on July 8th. “Maybe we can play it again,” replied the worker in response to this objection. We wish everyone who did not come to Dessau in the summer. "
Others
Originally the open-air event was supposed to take place in the Georgenpark. Because of pest infestation (caterpillar infestation), however, it was temporarily moved to the meadow at the Bauhaus, which was referred to several times in the piece.
source
- Entry in the Karl Mai Wiki about the play
literature
- Henning Franke: The Prince and the Caterpillars - A Karl May rarity at the original location: “The Old Dessauer” was pure pleasure in Dessau . In: Karl May & Co. No. 130/2012, pp. 82-84.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ https://anhaltisches-theater.de/susanne_hessel
- ↑ a b http://www.anhaltisches-theater.de/der_alte_dessauer_ua
- ↑ a b Henning Franke: The Prince and the Caterpillars ... , 2012, p. 84.
- ↑ Henning Franke: The Prince and the Caterpillars ... , 2012, p. 83 f.
- ↑ Henning Franke: The Prince and the Caterpillars ... , 2012, p. 82.