Mr. Kolpert
Mr. Kolpert is the most famous play by the German playwright David Gieselmann .
Performances
The play was premiered on May 10, 2000 at the Royal Court Theater in London in a translation by David Tushingham , was nominated for the authors' award of the Heidelberger Stückemarkt and was performed on German stages and in 24 countries (including Turkey , Scandinavia , Iceland , Italy , Greece , France , Poland , Israel , New Zealand , Australia and the USA ).
Mr. Kolpert had its German premiere on December 12, 2000 at the Schaubühne on Lehniner Platz in Berlin in a production by Marius von Mayenburg and Wulf Twiehaus . In January 2012 Nurkan Erpulat began directing at the Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus with a noticeably modified version of the play.
Brief description
Sarah and Ralf invited Edith and Bastian to dinner. But neither of them have any food in the house. No matter, there is delivery service. The hosts are not interested in food anyway, but in having a good time, happily at the guests' expense. With the claim to have committed a murder and to have the body still in the apartment, the hosts cause fear and horror in their guests after an initial irritation. The later the evening, the greater the horror. Too bad Sarah and Ralf had no idea what forces and abysses lay dormant in Edith, because the situation escalates late at night.
criticism
“Gieselmann knows how to design situations precisely ... The piece follows a dramaturgy of calculated surprises. For the pleasure of the audience. "
"A comedy cannot be better or blacker."
“... Gieselmann's pieces (still best known as" Herr Kolpert ") burst with crazy and silly dialogue wit. The language becomes independent in his characters, has an accident in Freudian slip of the tongue, ends up with the wrong addressee or becomes intoxicated with over-the-top repetitions. All of this has a heavy side to comedy. But is that all? ... "
reception
The pitch-black comedy is reminiscent of Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? , and classic comedies like Cocktail for a Corpse by Alfred Hitchcock and Arsenic and Lace Cap by Joseph Kesselring . However, David Gieselmann turns the screw of violence a few degrees further with absurd ideas, murder is literally redefined as an act of emancipation. The characters in the piece have almost completely lost feelings such as humanity and mutual respect ("Piety. I don't even know what that is.") Or even an ethical and moral value system. In search of the ultimate kick ("Or we were wrong and killing someone is completely normal") they literally walk over dead bodies.
In 2012, Nurkan Erpulat attempted with his staging of the play at the Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus apparently to sharpen the motives for excesses of violence and to move closer to current debates. If the hosts at Gieselmann are bored snobs who want to experience a heightened being, at Erpulat they become living room terrorists who fight for obscure ideals.
Premieres
- Brazil: August 3, 2012, Centro Municipal de Cultura, Porto Alegre (translation: Marcos Barbosa)
- Latvia: May 9, 2012, Gertrudas ielas teatris (translation: Inga Rozentale, director: Karlis Krumins)
- Romania: April 17, 2011, Teatrul Andrei Muresanu, Sfantu Gheorghe (translation: Sebastian Marina / Claudiu Mihaiu; director: Cristian Ban)
- Israel: May 25, 2010, Tmu'na Theater Tel Aviv (Translation: Eynat Baranovsky / Muli Shulman; Director: Muli Shulman)
- Bulgaria: April 16, 2010, Sofia Theater (Director: Kris Sharkov)
- Turkey: November 22, 2008, National Theater Ankara (Translation: Sibel Arslan Yesilay; Director: Hakan Çimenser)
- Iceland: October 28, 2006, Leikfélag Akureyrar (translation: Bjarni Jónsson íslenskaði; director: Jón Páll Eyjólfsson)
- USA: January 14th 2006, Odyssey Theater, Los Angeles (Director: Scott Cummins)
- Russia: September 16, 2005, Globus Theater Novosibirsk (translation: Leonard Buchow; director: Roman Kozak)
- Lithuania: May 11, 2005, Kaunas Drama Theater (translation: Jurate Pieslyte; director: Sakalas Uždavinys)
- New Zealand: December 1, 2004, Silo Theater, Auckland (Director: Shane Bosher)
- Ireland: 6th October 2004, Granary Theater, Cork (Director: Brian Desmond)
- Hungary: April 15, 2004, MU Színház, Budapest (translation: András Forgách; director: Edit Illés)
- Slovakia: December 1, 2003, Arena Theater, Bratislava (translation and direction: Marián Amsler)
- Denmark: September 26, 2003, Aarhus Teater (Translation: Nina Davidsen & Jens Bille; Direction: Rune David Grue)
- Czech Republic: May 22, 2003, Theater Na Zábradlí, Prague (translation: Radka Denemarková; director: Jirí Pokorný)
- France: November 12, 2002, Comédie de Valence (Translation: Henri-Alex Baatsch; Direction: Christophe Perton)
- Australia: February 5, 2002, Sydney Theater Company (Director: Benedict Andrews)
- Sweden: February 2, 2002, Borås Stadsteater (translation: Ulf-Peter Hallberg; director: Susanne Hallvares)
- Greece: November 20, 2001, Tritä Theater, Athens (translation: Georgos Depastas; director: Viky Georgiadou)
- Finland: November 2, 2001, Turku City Theater (Translation: Jukka-Pekka Pajunen)
- Germany: December 13, 2000, Schaubühne am Lehniner Platz, Berlin (Directors: Marius von Mayenburg and Wulf Twiehaus)
- Italy: September 22, 2000, Teatro della Limonaia, Florence (translation: Silvia Candida; director: Ingo Kerkhof)
- World premiere: May 10, 2000, Royal Court Theater, London (Translation: David Tushingham; Direction: Richard Wilson)