Back to the Königsallee

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Infobox microphone icon
Back to Königsallee
(original Tilbake til Tuengen Allé )
Radio play from Norway
original language Norwegian
Year of production 2005
Duration 48 min
production RBB
Contributors
author By carpenter
Director Anouschka dryer
music Seby Ciurcina
speaker

Back in die Königsallee (Norwegian Tilbake til Tuengen Allé ) is a radio play by the Norwegian film author and dramaturge Per Schreiner , the original version of which was first broadcast on NRK2 on September 4, 2005 and won the Radio France Award at the 2006 Prix ​​Europa . The German translation by Lutz Volke , produced by RBB in 2006, was heard for the first time on RBB's Kulturradio on October 13, 2006, on Deutschlandfunk on January 23, 2007 and on SWR2 on February 4, 2007.

Lutz Volke is relocating the action, which takes place in Tuengen Allé in the cultural and diplomatic district of Oslo , to Königsallee in Düsseldorf in order to create a comparable socio-cultural climate; To this extent, the German listener is suggested to believe that the story is taking place in Düsseldorf .

action

The 55-year-old protagonist Sverre (Martin Seifert), married and the father of two adult children, is out shopping in the city. He tries to concentrate on his wife Gerda's shopping list, gets rid of an acquaintance on the street and is in a hurry because after his errands he wants to go home to his villa "back to Königsallee" as soon as possible. Suddenly you hear screeching tires and clinking glass: an accident has occurred.

Sverre wakes up in the hospital. He cannot move or speak, is thirsty but not in pain. The speaker's voice articulates his thoughts. Baby screams can be heard in the background, parents Kathrine (Cathlen Gawlich) and Leit (Florian Lukas) are delighted with their newborn son. While the listener may wonder why an accident victim is in the maternity ward, Sverre also thinks that all of this could only be a mistake and waits for Gerda to appear to get him out of here "back to Königsallee". The thirst worsens. Kathrine reaches out to the child - Sverre's voice expresses gratitude and relief, and it becomes clear to the listener what really happened: Sverre died in the accident, and his soul is now in the body of this baby, which is supposed to be called Håkon.

Ten months later: Sverre's soul has got used to living in the body of baby Håkon. It is clear to him that he must learn to walk and speak as quickly as possible in order to have an early chance to "get back to Königsallee". Kathrine and Leit are amazed at the extraordinarily fast development of their child: With difficulty, Håkon can be prevented from climbing up a bookshelf to read Flaubert . The first word he can speak is "Gerda". The parents don't understand what he means. Then Håkon manages to pick up the phone and dial Gerda's number. The phone is picked up by Andreas, a casual acquaintance of Sverre. Sverre's ghost wonders what Andreas is doing in Gerda's apartment, and in Håkon's voice (Emilia Maria Paz Quinones) he asks for "Gerda". Andreas understands the name and calls Gerda, but she can't do anything with the child's voice. Kathrine snatches the receiver out of Håkon's hand and apologizes to the stranger's wife that her little son has experimented with the phone.

More than a year later: Kathrines and Leit's marriage is in crisis. Kathrine would like to move into a larger apartment, for which there is no money, and she accuses her husband of lacking professional ambition. One day, through a call to his company, she discovers that Leit has been fired there for weeks. While she loudly confronts him as to why he has kept it from her, Sverre's soul tries to "concentrate" in Håkon: What is his wife's name, what are his children 's names, where does he live? It occurs to him with difficulty. While the parents continue to argue, Håkon escapes and, with the help of passers-by, makes his way "back to Königsallee", rings Gerda. He tries in vain to make himself understandable to her: "I am Sverre". Gerda doesn't understand him and reports a child to the police who is lost. When Andreas enters a little later, Sverre's soul realizes that this is the new partner in Gerda's life and beats him up with all the strength that a 2-year-old body is capable of. Shortly afterwards, the police appear with the excited parents Håkon. Andreas shows Leit his bloody nose and explains to him that he has to take better care of his child, besides that such aggression is probably not normal, and one has to go to the doctor with the child. The provoked leader beats up Andreas. Kathrine goes home with Håkon after the police arrested Leit for assault.

Another year later: Kathrine is a single parent, Leit has the right to visit every 14 days. Although they still love each other, both are convinced that it is "better that way". Every 14 days, Håkon looks forward to an extra portion of ice cream from the father and all other things that are prohibited from the mother. The speaker of Sverre's soul has fallen silent. Håkon has forgotten his pre-existence.

Leitmotifs and other topics

In the dialogues that come across easily and loosely for the listener with a subtle sense of humor, there are two timeless and intercultural longing motifs that run through the piece as leitmotifs ; In addition, there are a number of everyday, socially relevant topics of the 21st century.

The first motive for longing is the ancient and unfulfillable human wish for immortality, influenced here by ideas of reincarnation that are native to Far Eastern cultures . Another motive for longing, repeated throughout Sverre's soul wish "Back to the Königsallee", is the search for people's unmistakable identity and roots, their individual home in familiar surroundings, which is not only to be understood externally, but rather as a feeling of inner harmony with oneself and with "having arrived". This search is made more difficult for contemporary people by the external conditions (high mobility requirements and fast pace in metropolises ), but also by the disintegration of family structures. A sociological component of the leitmotif is also specifically the desire for a better residential area with secure economic conditions.

In this respect, socially critical motives and also psychosocial factors touch on numerous topics of our time: unemployment and the inability of a previously happy couple to deal honestly and trustingly with this problem, misunderstandings of the abilities of a presumably gifted child and ignorance of its appropriate support, and ultimately neglect of the child through the parents who are overwhelmed with their own problems, leading to violence and the breakdown of the family, and finally the divorced child as a plaything between the parents' different upbringing styles.

All of these topics, which are only briefly indicated over a period of almost 50 minutes, play a role in the everyday, yet decisive experience for the young couple in bringing up their first child, which has completely changed their life. Despite all the bizarre nature of the plot, the realistic core is the suggestion that there may be a more complex personality in every toddler than the parents suspect based on their means of expression. In this respect, the game can be understood as an appeal to love, care, open-mindedness and patience in dealing with early childhood developmental steps and needs.

In the final scene, in which Håkon appears as an inconspicuous 3-year-old child of divorce, typical of the time, the circle from the double fantasy / reality level closes all the way back to the reality level of the opening scene. The recipient, however, influenced by Sverre's unusual soul perspective, listens more attentively and sensitively.

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