Bavaria
Drama/musical
Chilean director and author Guillermo Calderón creates his own unique combination of humor and political explosiveness in his writing. Many of his texts tell quite comically about the prejudices, ignorance and egoism that come to light in intercultural exchange. In his new play for the Residenztheater, a group of women meet for choir practice. But they not only sing together, they also want to found a new form of community, a new „Bavaria“ that fits their ideas of a good life better than the Bavarian reality. Only where? Somewhere in the country? Or better at the other end of the world, in South America? While they rehearse the Spanish songs that Franka, a German-born Paraguayan, is supposed to teach them, it gradually becomes clear that not everything is as harmonious as it seems, and that entanglements and untruths permeate not only the group, but also the history of German settlement in Latin America.
The Marstall is a beautiful venue which allows the transition via lifting the walls for the second act. The workshops did a formidable job in the realization of the yacaré for the end. To design a play about connections between esoteric/exostistic approaches and colonialism, conspiracy theories and a desire for home („heimat“) was challenging and intense.
„In this piece I would like to explore the relationship between the motives of the German colonists and those of the Chilean government, which has given a lot of land and support to German settlers since the 19th century. The ‚Colonia Dignidad‘, which became sadly famous, was only one of many. On the one hand, it was about the development of our country, the military and the education system, but it was also very much about taking the land away from the indigenous population that still lives in these areas today and still has much less influence than the descendants of the German immigrants who belong to the social elite.“ Guillermo Calderón
Guillermo Calderón is one of Chile’s most important contemporary theater makers. His company’s productions tour worldwide.
Text und Inszenierung: Guillermo Calderón
Bühne und Kostüme: Sophia Sylvester Röpcke
Komposition und Musikalische Leitung: Stephen Delaney
Licht: Markus Schadel
Dramaturgie: Katrin Michaels
Mit: Barbara Horvath, Katja Jung, Anna Bardavelidze, Lisa Stiegler, Mareike Beykirch, Barbara Melzl
https://www.residenztheater.de/stuecke/detail/bavaria
copyright Fotos: Sandra Then