Greetings from the Trenches in performance at Jakobus Theatre

For those of you who have been following the progress of my new play 'Greetings from the Trenches' and weren't able to see the two European Premiere shows at Jakobus Theatre in Karlsruhe I wanted to let you know how it all went.

Emma and I arrived separately in Karlsruhe on Wednesday 3rd December. Emma arrived by train via Cologne and I flew over from Stanstead airport arriving about half past four. We met up at Café Bleu opposite the theatre and Emma's first words were "I am soo glad to see you. I don't think I could have done it on my own!" With this being a two hander it is very unlikely either of could have performed it on our own. During our time there we had a tremendous amount of fun outside of the play as we both have a very silly sense of humour.

On the Wednesday we had an interview with Andreas Juttner of the big regional newspaper the - Badische Neueste Nachrichten and they published a nice big article with picture in the Friday morning edition.

Wednesday evening was spent collecting furniture for the show and working with our German technician Lennart on the few technical light and sound aspects of the show. Luckily his English is very good and he is proficient. Such professionalism is important when there is very little space for error and time for rehearsals.

In the daytime of Thursday Emma and I met up and enjoyed some relaxation at the Karlsruhe Christmas market along with a reasonable amount of mulled wine, flannkuchen and coffees and some very important shopping messing about in Primark.

 

 

The early evening found us back at the Jakobus theatre joining Lennart for a technical rehearsal before the actual show. All seemed in order as we worked through the play out of costume and we were both looking forward to the actual performance - only half an hour away! Just about time to get changed, take a breath and get downstairs into the wings.

Jutta Berendes did a welcoming speech to the audience, there was applause, and suddenly we got the chords of the opening music recorded on piano in Leiden Holland and the play began. It was good to play to an actual paying audience amongst which were some familiar faces from the Jakobus theatre and that of our translator Thorsten Feldmann. Later, in the following few days Thorsten explained why there more laughs on Thursday than on Friday. Apparently there was a much bigger audience membership of English speaking people on the first night and they were appreciating all the subtle humour in the text and the relationship between Frank and his daughter Madeleine. Emma's parents had also made the trip from Nottingham to see the show too!

Whilst I enjoyed all of the performance I guess that the piece I wanted to work the most was the end of the play where it is revealed to the audience that the two people on the stage actually died in a car crash before they had even reached the television studio. Given the reaction during the announcement at the very end I would say that it worked very well and I was glad that we decided to end with our backs to the audience holding hands in a cold blue light while the announcement played and a police light flashed on the stage.

The second night's audience was a quieter audience in terms of any laughter but very attentive at the same time and a nice big group from Theater Die Käuze came to watch as well as my friend Birgitta who had travelled all the way from Friedrichshafen to see the show with her friend Jutta. We hadn't seen each other for fourteen years to it was great to chat before the show in Café Bleu and catch up.

Overall, it was great to know that all the ideas, text, poems, German translations, songs and rehearsals had paid off and my first professional show was an artistic success. Hopefully we can repeat that success in Nottingham next year. Thank you to everyone who made the Karlsruhe shows a success and big thanks to my co-star Emma Brown for her enthusiasms, talent and relaxed approach and to Thorsten for all the translating work. Thanks too to all of the great people at the Jakobus Theatre, especially Carsten Thein and Markus Kunstler, for all your support along the way and during the weekend! Especial thanks to my hosts Gerd and Herrlich for giving a bed, a lovely breakfast, some beers and a chance to pay with and pat Fricker the friendly Alsatian!

Emma had to return to Leiden early on the Saturday morning and I remained in Karlsruhe until Monday morning. It was nice to be able to have a chance to relax after our performances and I spent some time with my friends Lena and Sacha and with my former hosts - the Corneli family.

See you soon Karlsruhe and Café Bleu!

Lace Market Theatre twinning. Fond memories.

After a very successful Theatre Exchange week in April this year I decided to give members from all three groups an opportunity to share their thoughts on the week and without further ado here are a selection of some of them. I was very touched by the often emotional responses. Phil Lowe.

Viktor & Stephanie Mueller ( Die Käuze)

The week before Easter the Karlsruhe theatre “Die Käuze” visited its friends at the Lace Market Theatre in Nottingham. The theatre exchange is a 32-year-old tradition. As two of the youngest members of this exchange program, we experienced an extraordinarily heart-warming welcome and enjoyed the Lace Market’s hospitality throughout our stay. The journey to Nottingham consisted of a few hours of driving, a nice night on a ferry and a few close calls in the left-handed traffic. We can imagine we arrived at Lace Market Theatre looking worn out but also excited to be there. The first tears started to run when the long-term members of both theatres fell into each others’ arms. It was a very moving moment to see them meet again.

Those of us visiting for the first time didn’t feel any less welcomed. Our particular host, Steve Parry, was great, and we had a few nice evenings with him, chatting over this and that. When the time came to set up our play for the performance, we had some difficulties to overcome which is normal when putting on a play in a new place. But even then, our friends from LMT were extremely helpful and worked overtime to finish the stage so we would have enough time to rehearse. The performance went well, and we had a great audience.

On the last day of our stay, we went to Stratford to pay homage to the Bard of Avon. Once again the LMT team proved themselves to be excellent guides. It was a real treat to see not only the beautiful city and the historical sites, but also take part in a special backstage tour of The Royal Shakespeare Theatre.

On departing, everyone gave each other hugs with tears in their eyes. New friendships were made and old ones strengthened. We are already looking forward to seeing the LMT members when they come over here to Germany, and we hope we can return the wonderful hospitality we experienced in Nottingham.

Norbert Wingender (Die Käuze)

Two things I learned in Nottingham

1. There's the left side and there's the wrong side.
2. Two yellow lines are not street decorations.

Didn't drive this time, wasn't towed away this time. But was carried away by the hospitality we received at the LMT. It's anyone's guess how much time and effort was spent to prepare things for us, cook for us (thanks, Max and all your little helpers) and support us, and how many wives/husbands suffered from their husbands/wives working long hours for us.  My guess is: a lot.

We were second to play so we were in a hurry, but it's nice - and comforting - to always see someone rushing up and down the ladder who really knows what he's doing, so the play went smoothly three times at last. Although half of the play is getting changed and providing proof that two bodies actually can take the same space at the same time. Since this is not perceivable to the public, I hope the audience enjoyed the visible part as much as we did.

My special thanks to Joy and Gordon who gave three of us a home for a week, fed us, transported us and endured all our mistreatments of their mother tongue. My special apology to the lady who checked the safety precautions at the theatre - I would have been pleased to give her my full attention but am a little shy when I'm busy changing my trousers.

Two things I learned this time in Nottingham:
1. Not all English buses are red.
2. English food is good.

Oh, and LMT has great people. But I knew that already.


Carsten Thein (Jakobus)

Performing a show in our German language on the stage of a theatre of Karlsruhe's twinning city Nottingham, is always a great pleasure to me. It's the best evidence that I can imagine that shows how small the distances between countries have become today. The people of the Lace Market Theatre have become very good friends for us at Jakobus and during the week in Nottingham we've even had the feeling of being part of a big theatre-family. We can't wait for the next meeting in Karlsruhe in the Spring of 2016.

Larissa Kaufmann (Die Käuze)

Ey up me ducks! It was this year around Easter when we, the Theatre die Käuze, came from Karlsruhe to the Lace Market Theatre in Nottingham again, like every four years. For me it was now the 7th time. I have always taken part in the twinning of the three theatres; from the time I was planned (in 1982) after I was born in 1985. The warm welcome of people that where there from the beginning makes you feel like you never had been away and of course it is very nice to meet new people too.

When I walk up the stairs to the theatre club  I feel like I have just been there just the day before. The rooms and corridors behind the stage and below the audience, where we get ready for the show, feel very familiar. There are the stickers of the two theatres from Karlsruhe on the dressing rooms´ mirrors and there are the pictures and everything from our long years of twinning the theatre club. There is the "last order" call from the bar at half past eleven.....the mingle-mangle of paints in front of the actors´ toilets... the conglomeration of technical stuff in the lighting corner. All join to create good memories.

Of course we also have much to do with rehearsals and setting up the stage, but this is a task we like very much. Especially finding solutions with the help of our friends. It is always exciting to see how things are arranged on a different stage, how everything will work out. And it is done in a way that is similar to ours.

But there is one sad aspect: after all the effort that was put in from our friends we have to leave after one week and again I could not speak to all the people we know from the years before. There is just too little time we have with our hosts.... What was going on during the years we were absent? What´s going on in Notts?..... I hope the time will not be too long until The Lace Market theatre will come to Karlsruhe again in two years time.

Gordon Parsons (LMT)

This was our first experience of hosting guests from Karlsruhe and Joy and I found it a most rewarding one. Personally, I think I had the best and healthiest breakfasts ever! We even coped with the early starts. We were impressed with our guests' punctuality and with their willingness to help and to speak English. As Joy said, I knew plenty of German nouns but had trouble stringing them into a coherent sentence.

We were also most impressed by the LMT's catering standards, a great credit to all involved. What we found especially heart-warming was the support our members and guests gave to the productions. We scored highly here. Boeing Boeing was an absolute delight. The ingenious way of narrating the story for non-German speakers was particularly impressive as were the musical interludes, costumes, acting and set. The charming Til Eulenspiegel formed an excellent contrast and both must make us feel that we should give considerable consideration in the future to exactly what we take on our return visit in two years time. The theatre was buzzing all week. A triumph."

Lisa Bossert (Jakobus)

It was my first time in Nottingham. My first time in England at all! I was totally " over the moon " - even the weather was much better than expected - who would have thought that you can get sunburned in England? ? To play Boeing Boeing in Germany , was great and we actors were very excited. But also – playing the same play for a foreign audience , who apparently really understood almost everything from the plot - at least they laughed in the right places - was sensational and memorable!

The mere fact that the stage looked almost like at home  when we arrived,  made it quite easy to prepare for the performances ... Thanks again to the many volunteers who have made this possible! I found the exchange between the three theaters and of course the people from all different ages and mentalities especially valuable. I am very glad not to have slept at a hotel because I could really " immerse " and have an English experience . What is the everyday life, they really only eat fish and chips ? ( No!) I have taken my hosts to my heart and cannot wait for it to be next time in Germany . This exchange was an incredibly beautiful experience . To meet so many people who are interested and have shown syphathy (Thanks Phil ! ) It was heart-warming and appreciated! Thanks and see you all soon. Lisa.

Karsten Stephan (LMT)

I would like to express my appreciation on behalf of the students studying German at Alderman White School and Bramcote College for the superb week of German theatre which you have just organised. All our sixth-formers studying German together with a large number of adult learners of German (Alderman White has a community-based language programme for adult language learners) came to see one of the two productions , 'Boeing, Boeing' and 'Till Eulenspiegel' - and it some cases both!
To quote one student ' It is great to have this opportunity to experience live German theatre'. ' My sixth-formers were still talking about the plays days afterwards, even the discussing the language they had learned and understood. One student raised some points of grammar which he had remembered from one of the plays.

This has been such a valuable educational experience for everyone and for those interested in theatre itself (and we have many students who are actively involved in extra-curricular drama) there was also a fascinating discussion with regard to stagecraft in 'Till Eulenspiegel'

Long may this wonderful international educational experience continue.

Simon Carter (LMT)

As a 'newcomer' to the Theatre Exchange, I thoroughly enjoyed the week. It was lovely to meet everyone and to assist both groups technically with their productions. Thanks for bringing two very different but equally brilliant shows to the theatre, and for making them so enjoyable even for those like me who's German is lacking. I hope to see everyone again in the future."

Cora Krukhof ( Die Käuze)

It was the first time I came to Nottingham and the Lace Market Theatre. I was impressed by the possibilities and equipment of your theatre, but even more so by the affectionate reception and the support all of you gave us.

Special thanks to Gill for organizing so well, to Max who provided us with such delicious food during the days of rehearsal, and of course to the whole team (technicians, "stage-rebuilder",...) who helped to keep everything going so smooth. In one phrase: It was a wonderful experience being with you. THANKS TO YOU ALL!

Gill Scott (LMT)

Organising and co-ordinating a week's visit from Jakobus and Die Käuze to our theatre may seem a daunting prospect, but there are two things I can always rely on.  The first is the unfailing good humour, adaptability and friendliness of our German guests and secondly, the generosity, flexibility, expertise and determination to make a success of everything of our own members.  It does, of course, mean a great deal of advance planning on both sides.  

An important element is identifying hosts and then trying to match up hosts, guests and parking requirements of transport to ensure a smooth transfer after long journeys.  Pet and food allergies  play a part in the matching up!  And this is one area where flexibility and unflappability of the person in charge, in this case Hilary Evans, is key.  There are often last minute changes to deal with.  

One other aspect also needs early planning - the day's outing.   The planned visit to Stratford Shakespeare theatre involved two reccies - to suss out the backstage tour of the theatre and the proposed restaurant for lunch.  Here Doreen Sheard's expertise as a courier is invaluable in ensuring an enjoyable day for everyone.

Building a set for a play not seen and at a distance as well as setting up the sound and light is a big ask, but Hugh, Philip H, Philip A, Simon and Peter did a fantastic job as did Rose in sourcing last minute requests for props.

And don't forget the commissariat - lunches for over thirty people plus tea and cakes for five days was amply provided by Max Bromley and Bar Fisher. And the party! Wow! what a send off Linda provided on the Friday evening. There are of course other elements, such as publicity, FOH, staff, bar staff, often taken for granted, but certainly not by me. I hope this has given people an idea of what is involved in this project. It is something of which all members can be proud. Gill

Phil Lowe (LMT)

What more can I add except to say what a wonderful week we all had! Alongside the plays and our 'official' events I enjoyed the pleasure of seeing our smiling guests in and around the theatre and out and about as we all enjoyed the fabulous weather, the beer at The Trip and the theatre bar and the pleasures of various restaurants in Nottingham and the fun morning at Batman's House with our friends from Jakobus. I will always remember the exciting challenge of creating the Friday party speech with help from Michael Darmola (keep it light hearted Phil!) and Carsten Thein and Markus who helped make sure the spoken German was good and funny. Doing that speech in German with Michael was one of the proudest moments of my life as a member of the Lace Market Theatre and just proved to me that our friendship with our beautiful friends from Karlsruhe is ever blossoming. Here's to the next time in Karlsruhe!

At the Lace Market Theatre in April - Boeing Boeing and Till Eulenspeigel

The Lace Market Theatre in Nottingham, as part of its theatre exchange with two German theatre companies from Karlsruhe are presenting the classic 1960s farce Boeing Boeing by the renowned Jakobus Theater and Till Eulenspiegel performed by the members of Die Käuze theatre company.

Check out the shows and performance times HERE. Each show only plays for three performances so don't miss out!

Each show is in German and Boeing Boeing will have an English introduction and Till Eulenspiegel will be played with simultaneous surtitle translations in English.  I have had the privilege of seeing the Boeing Boeing show in August last year at the company's own venue in central Karlsruhe and can tell you that the audience are in for a treat with some very comical performances, sexy ladies, very confused men and well known songs (in English) related to flying. This very popular show has been a sell out in Karlsruhe. Actually, we are in for a treat and a half! Three performances from Monday 14th April to Tuesday 15th April.

 

Boeing Boeing by Marc Camoletti

 What happens if an ambitious architect is engaged to three flight attendants? What happens if one of the girls that was supposed to take off doesn’t do so, another one lands who wasn’t supposed to, and the third is happily enjoying a hot bath? What happens if a housekeeper, who is perpetually nagging, can’t cope with the situation and an old school buddy from southern France suddenly shows up? Farce at its best!

 



Till Eulenspeigel Reloaded is written and directed by Pascal Paul-Harang

Pascal Paul-Harang is a professional director and has had many theatrical successes, most recently with the Die Käuze production of Black Forest Girl - a German romantic classic musical.

                                                         Image for Till Eulenspiegel poster

Die Käuze describe the story of Till Eulenspiegel thus: We all like to believe that the great heroes and heroines of literature truly existed. Over hundreds of years, the story of one great hero has been put into countless words, music and pictures, keeping the medieval trickster alive in hearts and minds. Now the mad, breath-taking and ultimately tragic life of the ultimate prankster is being brought to life on stage in a most epic style - from his birth to his resurrection. It is to be performed in modern dress and looks great fun. Just don't look in his mirror!!!

 

This production with our German partners, Theater Die Käuze, will be in German with English surtitles. Performances are Wednesday 16th April and Thursday 17th April.



 

How casting and rehearsals differ in two German amateur theatres to their English counterparts.

How the plays are cast and rehearsed in our twin theatres in Karlsruhe, Germany.

It's always interesting to find out how our friends at the Jakobus theatre and Die Käuze theatre in Germany do things so I thought that I would contact someone from each group and ask how they cast plays, rehearse and perform. I was interested to discover that they certainly do things differently to us. They are usually very impressed that The LaceMarket Theatre have a programme of approximately fifteen plays a year. For a start they have much longer playing periods and quite often both groups revise a play in the same season and do it again if it has been popular. But first of all over to Norbert Wingender from the Die Käuze group.

Norbert: First of all we don't do auditions. People come to us if they are interested in our theatre, and we show them around, have a look at them, and if they want to act they can come to the first meeting of a new play. If we think they could play a certain role we check them at the first rehearsal. At the meeting, the play – or part of it – is read with changing roles so we can see who has a 'feeling' for the part.

Rehearsals are like this: for the Fairy Tale we have the first meeting after the summer holidays when everybody is back again (mid-September). Since usually a few kids are involved we explain what we will play meaning- the story of the play. Marita makes a list of the people who want to participate then we put up a cast. We form a Tuesday and a Thursday group depending on the everyday schedule of the cast members. Because we have two or three people for each part we have rehearsals until the première which is on the last Saturday of November. Just before the première we have two weekend “rehearsal confinements” where everybody is in the theatre and we also eat together – try on costumes … everything. Of course other members have been working hard in designing and creating the set. The Fairy Tale is usually played in the afternoons because of the young children coming to see it.

For the 'evening plays', meaning the adult plays, we choose the cast after the first meeting, then we have rehearsals on appointment. Usually we have one “confinement” there as we only have one person per part.

Thank you Norbert and now over to the Jakobus Theatre in the city centre of Karlsruhe. Here I spoke to Carsten Thein.

Carsten Thein: Normally we start rehearsing for our play about three months before the first show.
Afterwards we play every week on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays and our shows are played about twenty-five times in all.

The kind of audition depends on the director and the sort of play.Sometimes the director knows exactly which people they want to cast the play, other cases we have the normal audition. There everyone who is interested to participate in the next show has a possibility to convince the director to take him or her for a role in the play.

The time of rehearsals means three or four evenings a week for a time from 6 pm till 10 pm and sometimes on a Saturday and Sunday as well. Normally we have about forty rehearsals before a new play starts. We perform around three new shows a year and sometimes repeat the most popular shows later in the season. Also our theatre can be hired for outside professionals and amateur groups to perform plays and music. Our programme is varied and in the recent past we have performed Die Entdeckung der Currywurst by J.Kaetzler and G Seidel, a comedy and a classical German piece from our region – Der zerbroche Krug. Also we played a popular fantasy called Die Nibelungen by Rudiger Pape and Catharina Fillers. We are about to start a play by Arthur Schnitzler called Reigen and look forward to bringing Boeing Boeing to you in 2014.

Acting 'A Chip In The Sugar' in Karlsruhe

Regarding the title of this blogpost, I can only speak for myself in this as I did a monologue as Graham and seven other characters from A Chip In The Sugar. All the work I'd put in over the last three months paid off in the three performances I did at the Die Käuze theatre in Karlsruhe. They weren't perfect but then live theatre rarely is and that is the joy in doing it. Working with the imperfections so much that audience of oblivious of them and still entertained is worth the struggle.  I learnt very quickly not to be self critical and analyse oneself or judge the words issuing forth as one acts. To do so is fatal and therby mental blanks can come thick and fast. Not what you want in front of a full auditorium.

"Oh my God Mother!"

The Tuesday morning performance was the probably the best in being pretty much word perfect and the energy from doing an early show paid off plus the fact that I knew that there was a big group of English language students in and also our gang from the Lace Market Theatre had come across town ( some with hangovers) to support myself and the team who were performing The Typists. So all in all I was very pleased with the quality of the performances I gave and the applause, the whoops and the stamping of feet that came as a reward for doing well was very gratifying.

"Get down, He's back!"

I enjoyed the talk back with the students and felt very surprised and happy that they had clubbed together to buy me two very nice bottles of  French wine as a reward for sending them a script marked up by me to illustrate some points about the text and the peculiar English expressions in the work and my understanding of the characters. I also sent them a companion audio CD explaining all and an audio CD of me doing A Chip In The Sugar

"We were just letting our midday meal go down when the Vicar calls."

.As I got towards the last performance I was able to trust that I knew the script well enough to take more pauses and work with the laughter ( a surprising amount actually ) that was coming my way, without losing the plot - so to speak.

"There's a car parked out side and I think there's somebody watching the house.."

Whilst I was in Karlsruhe it was suggested to me that a one man show called Der Kontra Bass or The Double Bass by Peter Suskind might be of interest to me. I have since had a little search on the Internet and from what I've seen it looks interesting. Watch this space.

Phil Lowe

March 2010 theatre exchange

Sometimes a week can go by far too quickly when you are having fun and I can certainly say that last week was fun. As previously mentioned I was involved in a cultural exchange that happens every two years between the Lace Market theatre and the Die Käuze theatre and the Jakobus theatre. Our theatre is based in Nottingham (UK) and the other two in the twin city of Karlsruhe in Germany.

scene from Die Hochmütigen

The Die Käuze theatre group performed a play called The Distainful (Die Hochmütigen), a stylised comedy with sur titles in English and the other group played Peter Shaffer's Black Comedy (Komödie im Dunkeln). Both pieces were in German and we were all delighted to get very good audiences for the shows. Each group performed their show three times with two evening performances and an afternoon performance and were well recieved. The Thursday afternoon show was graced by Mrs Jeannie Packer, Lady Mayoress of Nottingham.

We also arranged for Larissa Kaufmann and Manfred Paul to appear on BBC Radio Nottingham. I have to say, although I can speak some German I would have not be able to cope in an interview situation like this. Both of them sounded great and seemed to enjoy the experience despite being a bit nervous. Gill Scott from our theatre helped with some background details about our twinning arrangements and history.

Larissa, Manfred and Gill at BBC Radio Nottingham

The actors stayed in the homes of some of the theatre members here in Nottingham and all three groups spent a lot of time socialising and renewing old friendships from previous visits. I have written about the social side in my other blog http://mugofstrongtea.blogspot.com/.

I took a lot of photographs during their stay and enjoyed documenting the experience as well as having a great time with lots of laughter and fun with our German friends. I also had an opportunity to speak some German and was suprised at how quickly my limited language skills came back. Being able to speak with native speakers also helped to improve my skills. Try saying 'Blaukraut bleibt Blaukraut und Brautkleid bleibt Brautkleid' sober never mind a bit tiddly.

Phil with the Jakobus group

I really enjoyed the whole week and it was great to see old friends like, Markus, Thorsten, Carsten, Larissa, Manfred and Christian and to meet some lovely new people such as Michael, Lena and Volker. I will miss you all and look forward to our  return visit in two years time. We all keep in touch via facebook and emails and I am even considering going over to Karlsruhe to perform a one man show in the meantime.