The marriage certificate

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Data
Title: The marriage certificate
Original title: The license
Premiere: May 17, 1961
Place of premiere: Ohel Theater, Tel Aviv
Place and time of the action: Israel, early 1960s
people
  • Daniel Brozowsky, a self-employed master plumber
  • Ella, his wife
  • Vicky, their two daughter, a student
  • Robert Knoll, Vicky's fiancé, chief calculator in the statistical office
  • Bunky, member of the Einot kibbutz
  • Rose Hooper, the Brozowskys' neighbor, a young widow

The Marriage Certificate is a comedy in two acts (four scenes) directed by Ephraim Kishon . "The License" is the title of the original edition. The German version is by Helmut Castagne. It premiered on May 17, 1961 at the Ohel Theater in Tel Aviv (Israel). The German-language premiere took place on December 31, 1962 in the Thalia Theater in Hamburg . A performance takes about 90 minutes.

action

first act

Brozowsky's living room in an Israeli town, early 1960s

Master plumber Daniel Brozowsky cannot understand that his daughter Vicky, a psychology student, fell in love with Robert Knoll of all people, a picture-book official for whom the file number is still important even for official documents. He is also a mother’s boy par excellence. And then the mother herself! He has nightmares because of her how she chases him armed with a huge wrench. This person is careful not to have a daughter-in-law who may be illegitimate. As a result, she wants to see the bride's parents' marriage certificate in good time before her son's wedding. But this one cannot be found! Up until now, the Brozowsky couple believed that they had been married to each other for 25 years, but now they are concerned about whether they even formally married in Kibbutz Einot at the time. Maybe they just wanted to get married, but couldn't get around to it. After all - in the founding years of the State of Israel - it was a wild time that cannot be compared with today. Even a call to the kibbutz administration does not provide clarity.

End of the first act: "I'm staying!"

Vicky doesn't like all of this at all. If your parents are not already married, then there is only one solution: to get married now ! Her father is anything but enthusiastic about this idea, but in the end he lets his daughter pound him soft. Tomorrow at lunchtime I could spend a few free minutes standing in front of a rabbi with Ella and saying yes. Then he wants to celebrate the event with Ella in a fast food restaurant. But with this suggestion, he bites his "wife" on granite. If you are getting married, you need a dignified setting. Ella demands time to think it over.

The next day, Daniel Brozowsky appears in a suit and with a bouquet of flowers in front of Ella and proposes to her. But Ella reacts with a cold. Daniel plays the insulted liver sausage and no longer wants to woo her. Both get into an argument.

Suddenly Bunky, an uncomplicated young man from Kibbutz Einot, enters the Brozowsky's apartment. He had been assigned by the secretary of the kibbutz to clarify whether the Brozowskys actually married 25 years ago. He is in a great hurry and can hardly wait to get away while talking to the master plumber. Suddenly Vicky appears in the room. Bunky stares at her with wide eyes and says: "I'm staying!"

Second act

Brozowsky's living room in an Israeli town, early 1960s

The beginning of the second act gives the viewer - on the surface - the impression that a harmonious family is spending the evening at home. Ella is ironing, Vicky is browsing through a book and Daniel belabouring Bunky with a story that he has told someone umpteen times at every opportunity and that makes him appear as a shining hero himself. But Bunky only seems to be listening to him. In reality, he only has eyes for Vicky. When Ella's iron goes on strike, Bunky agrees to fix the device and takes the opportunity to short circuit it so he can tackle Vicky in the dark. Suddenly the light comes on again, and in the middle of the room stands Robert completely confused with flowers in his hand, once again demanding the marriage certificate. The first tensions develop between him and his fiancée.

The dispute between the Brozowsky couple turns into a tangible marital row. Ella smells morning air. Years of resentment about the attention that has been waning since the wedding day, the charm that has been lost because of the husband's fascination with his beloved plumber's tubes, as well as the unasked and taken for granted increasing demands on the wife up to the everyday stage of being an absolute tyrant of the Family gives rise to the desire for more freedom. Actually, she doesn't want to part with Daniel at all; she just wants to regain some love. When Rose Hooper, the neighbor, appears again and notices that something is up here, Daniel feels that she would be ready to replace his wife. So he openly flirts with her to make Ella jealous.

Now Bunky and Vicky are teasing each other more and more. Finally there is a long kiss.

Ella's jealousy grows to anger. She is now determined to leave her husband and begins to pack the suitcase. When she takes her engagement picture off the wall, Daniel tries to snatch it from her because he is finally in the picture and therefore she is only entitled to fifty percent of it. Ella takes the picture out of the frame and - on the back of the photo, the damned marriage certificate comes to light. But anyone who thinks that everything will be back to normal immediately is mistaken. Daniel says: “This piece of paper was important to us as long as we didn't know about it. At the moment when everything depends on it, nothing depends on it. ”He asks his wife to leave. In a monologue he conjures up the joys of being a bachelor. But the more he gets into his thoughts, the more weepy his words come out. At the end he calls out to his wife: "Don't leave me, Ella, I can't live without you ..." And so it comes to a happy ending, as it should be for a comedy.

filming

The author himself filmed his play in 1983 for ZDF. Wolfgang Kieling (Daniel Brozowsky), Maria Schell (Ella Brozowsky), Simone Rethel (Vicky), Herbert Herrmann (Bunky), Michael Kausch (Robert Knoll) and Yvette Kolb (Rose Hooper) played under his direction . First broadcast on April 1, 1984.

radio play

The radio play of the same name (BR 1980) was awarded the Radio Eins Radio Play Cinema Audience Award in 2005.

Book edition (and source)