PAST THEATRE PRODUCTIONS
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"THE THERAPY"
by bestselling author Sebastian Fitzek
In the tradition of Gerda Gmelin, Theater im Zimmer brings a highly topical thriller by bestselling author Sebastian Fitzek to the stage – in a modern, multimedia adaptation and production by Hans Schernthaner.
A cooperation between Theater im Zimmer and the Hamburger Kammerspiele.
The mysterious disappearance of his 12-year-old daughter Josephine almost drives psychiatrist Viktor Larenz out of his mind. There are no witnesses and no body. In his grief, he has withdrawn to the North Frisian island of Parkum. When children’s book author Anna Spiegel asks the grieving psychiatrist to cure her of her delusions, and he hears that her hallucinations revolve around a little girl and that her accounts show clear parallels to Josephine, he agrees. After four years, finally a lead. But perhaps it would be better if he never found out what happened to his daughter. Because what he sets in motion surpasses his worst nightmares ...
Sebastian Fitzek’s stories are pure suspense and addictive. The plot develops an unstoppable, gripping pull from which there is no escape. How are Josephine’s fate and Anna Spiegel’s secret connected? And what role do the psychiatrist and his wife Isabelle play ...
Director: Hans Schernthaner
With Jeannette Arndt, Hans-Christoph Michel, Wolfgang Riehm
PREMIERE:
Sunday, 28 October at 8 pm - Sold out!!
Further performances in November:
Saturday, 3 November, 8 pm - Sold out!! + Sunday, 4 November, 7 pm - Sold out!!
Saturday, 10 November, 8 pm + Sunday, 11 November, 7 pm
Saturday, 17 November, 8 pm - Sold out!! + Sunday, 18 November, 7 pm
Saturday, 24 November, 8 pm - Sold out! + Sunday, 25 November, 7 pm - Sold out!
Additional performances in December due to high demand:
Saturday, 8 December, 8 pm + Sunday, 9 December, 7 pm
Saturday, 15 December, 8 pm + Sunday, 16 December, 7 pm
Saturday, 22 December, 8 pm + Sunday, 23 December, 7 pm
Press reviews:
“This much Fitzek fits into the small Theater im Zimmer.”
Hamburger Abendblatt
“… a crime production of a special kind …”
Hamburger Morgenpost, October 2018
“Pure suspense”
Grindel‐Blog
“Psychological entanglements …”
Hamburger Wochenblatt
“Now that’s a different kind of theatre …”
Mind the Gap
“… in a modern, multimedia adaptation.”
Piste Hamburg
“An exciting start to the season at Theater im Zimmer …”
Dammtor-Zeitung
GERMAN PREMIERE
"The Blonde, the Brunette and the Vengeful Redhead"
An unfaithful husband, a false friend: what more do you need? A dropped ice cream! – And Rhonda’s revenge triggers a catastrophe.
In this gripping adventure, a disastrous and at the same time comical sequence of events turns the world of those involved upside down.
Seven monologues for one actress. Seven people connected by a tragic death. People who matter to each other, who betray, forget and fall for each other, who leave, love and miss each other.
Everyone has their own, completely different story to tell about that day, but who knows where the truth lies? Perhaps it can be found with Rhonda’s best friend, who encouraged her to act. Or does it lie with the husband who left Rhonda without giving any reason?
With the “vengeful redhead” herself, who perhaps knows least of all what really happened?
With each scene we learn more about what triggered the death and what consequences it has for each character. And depending on the narrative perspective, the events appear in a completely different light. A charade of subjective and objective reality. A feast of acting for an experienced, playful and versatile actress.
At its core, "The Blonde" is a play about forgiveness. Every person decides for themselves whether to nurture hatred in their heart for (apparently) suffered injustice – and thus not rest until they obtain satisfaction – or, on the contrary, to find forgiveness and thus peace of mind through confrontation.
Robert Hewett has written a story of blind revenge and unconditional forgiveness; essentially it is about the biblical antithesis – “Forgive those who trespass against us” versus “An eye for an eye” – from today’s perspective.
“The Blonde, the Brunette and the Vengeful Redhead” is suspenseful and comedic, thoughtful and moving.
PRESS REVIEWS:
“Seven monologues have become a special evening of theatre.”
Hamburger Abendblatt, 16 February
“Moving theatre!”
NDR Kultur 90.3, 15 February
“… a feast for an actress …”
Hamburg Theater, 19 February
“A must-see!”
Godot, Hamburg theatre magazine, 19 February
Cast: Mignon Remé - 1 actress in 7 roles | Director: Erik Schäffler
Special prize for outstanding achievement in Hamburg’s theatre life
Hamburg Theatre Prize - Rolf Mares 2018
Dramaturgy: Dr. Sonja Valentin | Music/sound collage: Markus Voigt | Design: Ulrike Hartmann
Photos: Bo Lahola | Make-up: Katharina Heep | Stage & costume assistant: Simone Kretzenbacher
PREMIERE
Thursday, 14 February, 8 pm (Valentine’s Day)
Further performances:
Friday, 15 February, 8 pm + Saturday, 16 February, 8 pm + Friday, 22 February, 8 pm + Saturday, 23 February, 8 pm
Additional performances in April:
Wednesday, 3 April + Thursday, 4 April + Friday, 5 April + Saturday, 6 April + Saturday, 6 April
GERMAN PREMIERE
+ OUR IN-HOUSE PRODUCTION
"RUHM" (FAME) BY DANIEL KEHLMANN
With its first in-house production RUHM, Theater im Zimmer opened the 2017/18 season, continuing its long tradition as a venue for world and German premieres.
Due to its great success, eleven further performances will be staged from 1 March 2018.
Five actors perform Daniel Kehlmann’s furious episodic novel RUHM (Fame). Seven stories of celebrities and total failures on every continent of the earth are interwoven in a way that is as bizarre as it is unexpected.
For a frustrated computer technician, a promising window into another life opens when he suddenly receives calls on his new mobile phone intended for a famous actor... An author of moderately successful crime novels hopes her trip to the Far East will bring a little more adventure into her life, forgets her charger and, without a phone or contact with home, lives through a real nightmare… A successful film actor takes pleasure in passing himself off as someone else and suddenly finds that he is denied access to his old life.
RUHM confronts us with the possibilities and limits of modern communication, with the attractions and dark sides of public fame, and with the question of what still makes people individual and unmistakable in a digital (illusory) world.
The production is directed by Erik Schäffler, who is known both for Michael Batz’s “Hamburger Jedermann” (role of “Devil” and director) and for numerous in-house productions and stagings at Axensprung Theater Hamburg, Theater Triebwerk, Polittbüro Hamburg and Theater Combinale Lübeck. His production of Herman Koch’s “Angerichtet” (The Dinner) was invited to the Hamburg Private Theatre Days 2015, and he received the Bavarian Theatre Prize 2000 for “Moby Dick”. His stage adaptation of “Apt Pupil” (2004 at Kampnagel) is the only German stage adaptation of a Stephen King story. For his production of RUHM, Schäffler uses an unusual spatial concept and creates an energetic game of confusion between appearance and reality.
Daniel Kehlmann (“Measuring the World”) is one of the best-known German authors. He has written numerous novels and plays and has received many awards, including the German Book Prize 2005 and the Nestroy Theatre Prize 2012. His new novel “Tyll” will be published in October 2017. The performance rights for the stage version of RUHM are held by Rowohlt Theater Verlag, Reinbek near Hamburg.
Cast:
Robin Brosch | Tommaso Cacciapuoti | Jantje Billker | Mignon Remé | Erik Schäffler
Director & text: Erik Schäffler | Dramaturgy: Dr. Sonja Valentin
Music: Markus Voigt | Stage & costume: Marcel Weinand | Design & photos: Ulrike Hartmann & Bo Lahola
Lighting & sound: Marco Dorendorf | Press: Nina Golde
REVIVAL
Thursday, 1 March 2018 at 8 pm | Saturday, 3 March at 8 pm | Sunday, 4 March at 7 pm
Thursday, 8 March at 8 pm | Friday, 9 March at 8 pm | Saturday, 10 March at 8 pm | Sunday, 11 March at 7 pm
Thursday, 15 March at 8 pm | Friday, 16 March at 8 pm
Saturday, 17 March at 8 pm - sold out! | Sunday, 18 March at 7 pm
PRESS REVIEWS & CRITICISM:
“A successful German premiere on the Alsterchaussee.”
Hamburger Abendblatt, Stephan Reckziegel (27 Oct. 17)
“An entertaining and clever look at human relationships …”
Mopo, Brigitte Scholz (30 Oct. 17)
“RUHM is a joy.”
Hamburger Wochenblatt, Christian Hanke (15 Nov. 17)
With the kind support of the Hamburg Ministry of Culture and Media, the Hamburger Kulturstiftung, the ZEIT-Stiftung, the Ida-Ehre Kulturverein e.V. and IPT Immobilien-Investoren-Beratung GmbH.
NDR report:
https://www.ndr.de/fernsehen/sendungen/hamburg_journal/Theater-im-Zimmer-zeigt-Kehlmanns-Ruhm
ARTISTIC TEAM
Mignon Remé
Studied acting in Hamburg and New York City. Various theatre productions, including “Der Hamburger Jedermann” and “Sonyboys” at the “steirischer herbst” festival in Graz, Herman Koch’s “Angerichtet” and “Ich & die Anderen”, both at Theater Combinale in Lübeck. Most recently in the Axensprung production “Kampfeinsatz” (all directed by Erik Schäffler). She is founder and member of the improv theatre group “hidden shakespeare”, with which she performs regularly in Hamburg and at various festivals, including in Seattle, Amsterdam, Copenhagen and Harare, Zimbabwe. In 2012 she won the audience award at the Max Ophüls Prize in Saarbrücken for her first improvised feature film “Heiligabend mit Hase”, which she produced with HIDDEN HITCHCOCK and in which she also acted. Frequent appearances in TV and film productions.
Robin Brosch
Trained as an actor at the Maria Körber drama school in Berlin. In 1996 he became particularly well known in Hamburg through the musical Buddy Holly, in which he played the lead role for more than five years. Other musicals: “Titanic”, “Rocky” and “Das Wunder von Bern”. Since 2005 he has played the title role in Michael Batz’s “Hamburger Jedermann”. Most recently: Kammerspiele Hamburg: “Next to Normal” and “Ghetto Swingers”. Film and television. Extensive dubbing work.
Tina Eberhardt
Training: 1992–1996 Zurich University of the Arts, diploma. Engagements: most recently at the Altonaer Theater in Hamburg 2017; Altes Schauspielhaus Stuttgart 2004–2017; Theater Lübeck 2013; Salzburger Landestheater 2013; Junges Ensemble Stuttgart 2009–2012; Staatstheater Karlsruhe 2010–2011; Bremer Shakespeare Company 2002–2004. Awards: Best Young Actress NRW 2000, Audience Award Altes Schauspielhaus Stuttgart 2007 and 2008.
Tommaso Cacciapuoti
Trained as an actor at the Maria Körber drama school in Berlin. Numerous engagements at the Hamburger Kammerspiele, the Mecklenburg State Theatre, Theater am Kurfürstendamm, Komödie Winterhuder Fährhaus and the Altonaer Theater, at the Polittbüro and, since 2011, in the Hamburg “Jedermann”. Plays: “Hosen runter” – anniversary programme, Polittbüro Hamburg 2013; “Finish” (solo) at the Polittbüro Hamburg, directed by Frauke Thielecke 2013; Nick in “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” at the Polittbüro Hamburg, directed by Erik Schäffler 2012; “Zweimal Lebenslänglich” by Stephen King, lead role, directed by Axel Schneider, Altonaer Theater 2012; “Sylt – Ein Irrtum Gottes”, “Pasta é basta” and “Männerbeschaffungsmaßnahmen” by Dietmar Löffler at the Hamburger Kammerspiele; “Doubt” by John Patrick Shanley, lead role at Winterhuder Fährhaus/Kontraste 2011. For many years he was part of the main cast of TV series such as “Praxis Bülowbogen” and “Großstadtrevier” and has played numerous other film and TV roles.
Erik Schäffler
Guest and ensemble member of the Deutsches Schauspielhaus Hamburg 2009–2013; actor at the Ernst Deutsch Theater Hamburg in “The Effect” 2014 and “Das Boot” as the “Kaleu” 2015 (director: H. Uhlemann); 2007–2013 “Caveman” at Schmidts Tivoli Hamburg; “Devil” in Michael Batz’s “Hamburger Jedermann”. RECENT DIRECTING WORK: “Ich & die Anderen”, Theater Combinale Lübeck 2015; Herman Koch’s “Angerichtet” at Theater Combinale Lübeck 2013 (invited to the Private Theatre Days in Hamburg 2014); at Axensprung Theater Hamburg: “Kampfeinsatz”, “Weltenbrand” 2015/16; E. Albee’s “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” at the Polittbüro 2012; M. Batz’s “Hamburger Jedermann” (annually since 2007). Winner of the Bavarian Theatre Prize 2000 for “Moby Dick” (text & direction).
Dr. Sonja Valentin
Born in Hamburg in 1971, she studied German, English and journalism in Hamburg and London. After her studies she worked on various theatre and film projects, including with Karin Beier, Peter Zadek and István Szabó. After positions at the Goethe-Institut in London and the Vienna Burgtheater, she worked as a dramaturge at various theatres in Hamburg, London and Berlin. She regularly directs audiobook productions and compiles literary programmes for actors. In 2015 her book “Steine in Hitlers Fenster” – Thomas Mann’s radio broadcasts “Deutsche Hörer!” 1940–1945 – was published. For the Haus der Kulturen der Welt (Berlin) she conceived the event series “Tatort Schlachtfeld. Readings and talks on the First World War” (2015/16).
Winner of the Monica Bleibtreu Prize & Audience Award
"ENIGMA"
As part of the Private Theatre Days, the play "ENIGMA" by Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt, nominated for the Monica Bleibtreu Prize, with actors Matthias Engel and Michael Günther, directed by Marcus Kaloff of Theater an der Angel Magdeburg, will be performed as a special guest at Theater im Zimmer on 24 June at 8 pm!
A play by Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt
German translation by Annette and Paul Bäcker
Co-production of Theater an der Angel and Kammerspiele Magdeburg
Director: Marcus Kaloff
With Matthias Engel, Michael Günther
How phases of life always slip away from us when we try to hold on to them – how love for a mysterious woman seems clear and true to us and yet unfolds as a riddle, an ENIGMA – thus psychologically shaken, two extraordinary men meet and founder on each other. The journalist meets the Nobel Prize winner, the lover meets the husband and, ultimately, one wounded man meets another. Their gripping conversations and hostilities seem to get to the point – but they drift apart like planets in space, circling ceaselessly, desperately and full of irony around a mysterious woman who is always present and yet never appears.
“Anyone whose heart is not touched by this production has none …”
VOLKSSTIMME MAGDEBURG
“Theatre people in person” – 30 minutes before each performance
Before each performance you have the opportunity to meet the invited artists – whether director, actor or artistic director. Find out everything about the productions nominated for the MONICA BLEIBTREU PRIZE.
Host: Peter Helling (NDR 90.3)
Winner of the Monica Bleibtreu Prize for best comedy & Audience Award
"The Farewell Dinner"
Metropoltheater, Munich
by Matthieu Delaporte & Alexandre de La Patellière
German translation by Georg Holzer
Director: Philipp Moschitz
Stage: Sanna Dembowski / Philipp Moschitz
Costumes: Sanna Dembowski
With Dieter Fischer, Winfried Frey, Judith Toth
The average couple Pierre and Clotilde lack one thing above all: time. To avoid having to keep meeting friends who have become rather tiresome and uninteresting, they take up the idea of their friend Boris: cook up a feast one last time, serve the best wine, reminisce about the good old days, and the perfect “farewell dinner” is ready for the unsuspecting friends, whom they will never contact again afterwards. The first victim of their time-saving measure is Antoine. Unfortunately, he too knows the idea of the “farewell dinner” and very quickly realises that he is being served his own.
While Pierre and Clotilde desperately try to wriggle out of the embarrassing situation, Antoine begins to fight by every means for his friendship with Pierre. In doing so, he shakes not only Pierre’s marriage but also many a supposed truth …
“… sure-footed between homely cabaret stage and punchline-packed boulevard comedy.”
Münchner Merkur
“Theatre people in person” – 30 minutes before each performance
Before each performance you have the opportunity to meet the invited artists – whether director, actor or artistic director. Find out everything about the productions nominated for the MONICA BLEIBTREU PRIZE.
Host: Jan Ehlert (NDR Kultur)
WORLD PREMIERE
"WHISKEY AND SUGAR"
Dear friends of the theatre,
at last it is back! The long-established “Theater Im Zimmer” reopened on 6 October 2016 with a world premiere, continuing its 47-year tradition as a theatre.
The beautiful villa that houses our theatre has stood on the Alster in the heart of Hamburg since 1829. In recent years my father has lavishly renovated the premises, and now I, his daughter, may reopen this house in new splendour. So it is a little like the theatre’s beginnings – the father hands over to the daughter.
Theatre has been performed here since 1952, at that time under the direction of Helmuth Gmelin. But the theatre became an institution under the direction of his daughter Gerda Gmelin, who took over as artistic director in 1959 after her father’s death.
She ran the theatre for 40 years and made it one of the most important private theatres in Hamburg, if not in Germany. The seasons were marked above all by socially critical plays and Gmelin’s courage to experiment. Plays by Eugène Ionesco, Harold Pinter and Franz Xaver Kroetz celebrated their German premieres here. Famous actors such as Ulrich Wildgruber and Boy Gobert, as well as directors such as Hans Neuenfels and the recently deceased Hans Peter Kurr, began their careers at this theatre.
Almost 20 years after the theatre closed in 1999, I am delighted that Theater im Zimmer is at last resuming its traditional role and showing modern theatre with new plays. I am particularly proud to be able to open the season with a world premiere, thus continuing the tradition of Gerda Gmelin.
Warmest regards,
Martha & the Kunicki family