One of the many scenes from “I dreamed the night”, including with Corinna Kirchhoff and Johanna Wokalek (middle front) Photo: DAVIDS/Christina Kratsch
By Bettina Goemener
What a task of Sisyphus!
Director Andrea Breth created around 80 short individual scenes for her play with music “I dreamed the night” from over 500 literary texts, pieces of music and found objects. The premiere was on Thursday evening in the Berliner Ensemble.
The miniatures are often melancholy, ludicrous, stuffy, grotesque, amusing, sometimes resembling paintings or silent film images. Corinna Kirchhoff mimics the diva with a fur stole, who sings old love songs to her Spitz or a trunk. Alexander Simon in top form is an amateurish husband and interpreter of Friedrich Hollaender’s “I do everything with my legs”.
The actors, mostly dressed in grey, almost the same color as the stage, offer precise acting with impressive physical effort. The ensemble sings all the songs, from Schubert’s “Gute Nacht” to “Give me the last kiss” (Charles Amberg). What all this has to do with dreams, as announced by Breth, is anyone’s guess.
The premiere audience cheered the piece, which could have been shorter.
Further performances: On March 28th and 29th, Tel. 28408155