God of Carnage Programme

The Hamburg Players e.V.
by
Yasmina Reza
Translated by
Christopher Hampton
Directed by
Eddie Gray
GOD OF CARNAGE was produced on Broadway by Robert Fox, David Pugh & Dafydd Rogers,
Stuart Thompson, Scott Rudin, Jon B. Platt, The Weinstein Company, and The Shubert Organization.
14 – 17 and 21 – 24 May 2014
T H E A T E R
A N
D E R
M A R S C H N E R S T R A S S E
The Hamburg Players e.V.
H am b u r g ’ s
o l dest
E n g l i sh - l an g u a g e
Ch ief
theatre
Welcome
to the Hamburg Players’
production of “God of Carnage”.
g r o u p
Patron
Honorary British Consul Claus G. Budelmann MBE
Honor ary
L ife
I would like to tell you a little bit about the genesis of tonight’s production.
Pres id e n t
Suneel M. Pathak
Committee
Valerie Doyle
Lexi von Hoffmann
S ecretar y Catherine Schwerin
C ha i r
V i ce
C ha i r
&
A ct i n g
H o n o rar y
T reas u rer
Ellen Bergman, Harald Djürken, Edward Gray, Jürgen G. Schmidt,
Wiebke Störtenbecker, Poppy Tirard
Honor ary
L ife
Membe r s
Peggy Bigglestone, Alexander Black, Lady Judith Mackeras,
Matthias McDermott, Reni Pathak, Sigrid Reuter,
Ursula Schmidt, Jürgen G. Schmidt, Catherine Schwerin, Christine Turner,
Inez Waloschek, Peter Wintgens, Sue Williams, Graham C. Williams
Cross of St. George
(England)
Cross of St. Andrew
(Scotland)
Cross of St. Patrick
(Ireland)
Union Jack
(United Kingdom)
©EnchantedLearning.com
Some of you may have seen the play, as it has been performed
in Hamburg, or perhaps seen the film version directed by
Roman Polanski. However, our motivation for staging the play came about when we
read it at one of the Hamburg Players’ monthly play readings. These regular events are
a chance for our members to come together and read plays out loud (a better way of
judging a play’s merits than simply reading the book), and subsequently discuss and give
feedback on whether a play is suitable and doable. Not every play passes the test, but for
God of Carnage the feedback was unanimous – what a good play! Let’s try and stage it.
However, whether a play is enjoyable or not is not the only criteria, we also need to have
someone willing and able to direct and be able to cast it. Thankfully, for this play, which
is set in Brooklyn, Eddie and Courtney, our director and assistant director, both hail from
the States, as do some of our cast, and bring their cultural awareness and experience to
the production. And finally, another question we have to consider is – does the play fit
into a balanced season and can we attract audiences? Following our November classic
period play Pride & Prejudice and our February zany farce Rumors, God of Carnage, we
believe, fits the bill in its very contemporary look at modern middle-class parenthood.
Next season will be a big one for us as it marks our 50th anniversary. We are planning a
bumper season to celebrate this unique year. Why not beat the queues and ensure a good
seat by taking advantage of our very attractively-priced Abo/Season ticket. Details are
here in the program, or feel free to approach one of our members in the foyer.
Next year we will also be hosting a major European theatre festival – FEATS, a one-act
play festival which attracts groups from all over Europe. It will run from 22 – 25 May 2015
in the Altonaer Theater and we will keep you posted on how to book tickets for this truly
fascinating event. The Hamburg Players will themselves be performing in this year’s festival
in Luxembourg in June, where I will be directing our production of Amateurs by David
Auburn. It rounds off what has been a very busy and successful season for The Hamburg
Players and we would like to thank you for your continued enthusiastic and loyal support.
Enjoy tonight’s show!
EnglishBooksUK@aol.com
WWW.English-Books-Hamburg.de
Chair
Crew
By Translated by Yasmina Reza
Christopher Hampton
Eddie Gray
Directed by Assistant Director Courtney Peltzer
Cast
Alan Raleigh Ralph Fellows
Annette Raleigh Michael Novak Veronica Novak Amanda Lee
Jason Couch
Agnetha Höfels
The entire action of the play takes place in the living room of the Novaks.
There will be no intermission.
Information as valid at time of going to print. Many thanks to all who have contributed. Photography
and visual and sound recording are not permitted during the performance. Please remember to
turn off your mobile phones (“Handys”).
P rod u cer
Martina Plieger
S tage M anager
Ronny Nowak
S et D esign
Alex Robertson
S et B u ilding
Alex Robertson, Piet Hansen, Julian St. Clair,
Elisabeth Härtwig, Charlotte Bock, Renate Brandt
L ight D esign and T ech
Thomas White
S o u nd D esign
Henrik Zawischa
S o u nd T ech
Meg McFarlane
C hal k A rtist
Clara Roethe
C ost u me D esign
Courtney Peltzer
C ost u mes
Barbara Möller, Birgit Lüdemann-Winther
H air and M a k e - u p
Lottie Lankenau
P rops
Charlotte Bock, Clara Roethe,
Carol Kloevekorn, Jacob Carmack
T eam vomit
Tom White, Jacob Carmack,
Elisabeth Härtwig, Alex Robertson
P rompt
Carol Kloevekorn, Julian St. Clair, Madeleine Lange
G reenroom
Sandra Giese, Lynda Matschke,
Rebecca Garron, Nora Farell
P u blicity
Svenja Baumann, Birgit Brink, Nele Giese,
Birgit Lüdemann-Winther, Jara Schmidt, John Sexton
P rogramme
Wiebke Störtenbecker, Jürgen Schmidt
I nfo T able
Harald Djürken, Julian St. Clair,
Madeleine Lange, Svenja Baumann
B o x O ffice / T ic k eting
Valerie Doyle, Petra Nowak,
Lexi von Hoffmann, Martina Plieger
F ront of H o u se
Sigrid Reuter, Renate Barker, Birgit Lüdemann-Winther
P hotography
Henrik Zawischa
A bonnement
Petra Nowak
T ic k ets , M ailing and H otline
Reni Pathak
G raphic D esign
Alexander Rühl
Der Gott des Gemetzels
Veronica und Michael Novak haben Besuch von Annette und Alan Raleigh. Benjamin, der
Sohn der Raleighs, hat Henry, dem Sohn der Novaks, mit einem Stock ins Gesicht geschlagen, wobei dieser zwei Schneidezähne verlor. Die Ehepaare diskutieren, wie man mit dem
Geschehenen umgehen sollte. Dabei sind sie allerdings verschiedener Meinung. So möchte
Veronica, dass Benjamin sich entschuldigt. Annette stimmt zwar zu, aber Alan widerspricht:
Benjamin sei mit seinen elf Jahren noch nicht in der Lage, die Folgen seines Handelns zu verstehen.
Gerade als die Novaks erklären, wie sie Henry dazu gebracht haben, ihnen zu
sagen, wer ihn angegriffen hat, bekommt Alan einen Anruf. Er ist Anwalt und arbeitet gerade an dem Fall eines Pharmaherstellers, dessen Medikament offenbar schlimme
Nebenwirkungen hat. Und im weiteren Verlauf des Abends hängt er immer wieder
am Telefon. Auch aus anderen Gründen kommen die Ehepaare vom eigentlichen Thema
ihres Treffens immer wieder ab: So erzählt Veronica, wie ihr Mann den Hamster ihrer jüngeren Tochter vor der Tür ausgesetzt hat, und auch die jeweiligen Berufe werden diskutiert.
Als man schließlich wieder auf die Söhne zurückkommt, ist man sich einig, dass ein Treffen zwischen den beiden Jungs das Beste wäre. Es gibt jedoch Probleme, einen Termin zu finden, der
allen passt. Und Alan sieht nicht ein, warum er bei einem solchen Treffen anwesend sein muss.
Er wirft Veronica eine „überkorrekte“ Erziehung vor, die ihn und Annette im Vergleich wie schlechte
Eltern aussehen lasse.
Die Diskussion führt zu der Frage, was eigentlich den Streit der Kinder auslöste: Benjamin hatte
behauptet, dass Henry ihn nicht in seine Gang lassen wollte, und ihn als Verräter bezeichnet.
Für Veronica und Michael ist diese Information völlig neu. Michael scheint die Vorstellung von
seinem Sohn als Anführer einer Gang allerdings sehr zu gefallen. Schließlich beschließt Annette,
Benjamin abends bei den Novaks vorbeizubringen, auch ohne Alan.
Annette fühlt, wie ihr schlecht wird, aber statt schnell ins Badezimmer zu gehen, fängt sie Streit
an mit Alan wegen seiner ständigen Telefonate. Sie wirft ihm vor, sie mit dem Haushalt und der
Kindererziehung völlig allein zu lassen. Plötzlich muss sie sich übergeben.
Während erst Alan und dann Annette ins Bad gehen, um sich sauber zu machen, versuchen
Veronica und Michael mit Hilfe eines Lappens, eines Föhns und reichlich Parfum ihre wertvollen
Bücher zu retten.
Als alle zurück sind, gibt es wieder Streit darüber, wessen Sohn tatsächlich Schuld hat an dem, was
geschah. Annette meint, dass Henry den Angriff provoziert habe, aber Veronica sieht das nicht
so. Alan und Annette beschließen zu gehen, da die Diskussion zu nichts führe. In dem Moment
erhält Michael einen Anruf seiner Mutter. Sie liegt wegen einer Knieoperation im Krankenhaus,
und es stellt sich heraus, dass sie genau das Medikament bekommen soll, um das es bei Alans
Fall geht. Während Michael versucht, seine Mutter dazu zu bringen, das Medikament nicht zu
nehmen, meint Alan zynisch, sie könne dann doch als Zeugin für ihn aussagen, falls bei ihr keine
Nebenwirkungen aufträten.
Bei solchen Eltern müsste Benjamin mildernde Umstände kriegen, ist Michaels Kommentar. Jemand,
der einen Hamster ermordet, könne wohl kaum als moralisches Vorbild gelten, kontert Annette.
Als sich Veronica auf die Seite der Raleighs stellt und Michael ebenfalls den Tod des Hamsters
vorwirft, verliert dieser die Geduld und bezeichnet sich als Neandertaler, dessen Höflichkeit nur
Fassade sei. Sie seien doch alle Neandertaler, sagt Alan, mit Ausnahme von Veronica. Die aber
ist sauer auf Michael, weil er sich so unzivilisiert benimmt.
Michael holt eine Flasche Rum, und alle beginnen zu trinken. Alan stellt die Theorie auf, dass
Selbstlosigkeit unmöglich sei, und jeder immer nur versuche, sich selbst zu retten. Michael erklärt
zum Entsetzen Veronicas, dass Kinder die schrecklichste Tortur sind, die es gibt, und einem das
Leben zerstören. Annette beschwert sich, Alan sei sein Handy wichtiger als alles andere, er würde
es nie aus der Hand legen. Währenddessen erklärt dieser, seinen Sohn treffe keine Schuld, da
Gewalt ein natürlicher Teil der Gesellschaft sei, und eben der Stärkere gewinne. Veronica weigert
sich, das zu akzeptieren, man lebe schließlich in den Staaten, und nicht in Afrika.
Als Alan wieder einen Anruf bekommt, wirft Annette sein Handy in die Blumenvase. Michael
versucht zwar, es mit Hilfe des Föhns zu trocknen, aber Alan bricht völlig zusammen: sein ganzes
Leben befindet sich in seinem Handy. Annette fühlt sich befreit, Veronica und Alan hingegen halten
den Tag für den schlimmsten ihres Lebens.
Michaels Mutter ruft wieder an, und Michael bringt Alan dazu, ihr klarzumachen, dass sie das
Medikament nicht länger nehmen darf. Annette und Veronica geraten erneut in Streit über die
Frage, ob Henry auch ein Teil der Schuld trifft, weil er Benjamin beleidigt hat. Frustriert wirft
Veronica Annettes Handtasche zu Boden. Annette ruft Alan um Hilfe, aber er hilft ihr nicht, im
Gegenteil, er stimmt Veronica zu, als sie Annette als falsch bezeichnet. Keiner von ihnen sei wirklich
ehrlich interessiert, mit Ausnahme von Veronica. Das sieht er aber nicht positiv: engagierte Frauen
wie sie würden auf Männer deprimierend wirken. Annette schmeißt die Blumenvase zu Boden, bricht
in Tränen aus und sagt, es sei auch der schlimmste Tag ihres Lebens. Das betretende Schweigen
wird erst unterbrochen, als das Telefon klingelt. Es ist die Tochter der Novaks. Veronica erklärt ihr,
dass ihr Hamster draußen in der freien Natur sicher glücklicher sei als in einem Käfig, und dass
Michael traurig sei und sie nicht verletzen wollte. Als sie auflegt, denkt Michael, dass der Hamster
möglicherweise wirklich noch am Leben und sogar glücklich ist. Denn was wüssten sie schon?
Nele Giese
Yasmina
Reza
A playwright
par
excellence
The French writer and actress Yasmina Reza, born
in Paris in 1959, has become one of the most
popular playwrights over the past decade. She is
best known for her plays Art (1995) and God of
Carnage (2006). The latter, which originally was a
commissioned work for the Schauspielhaus Zürich,
even made it to the big screen, when adapted by
Roman Polanski in 2011, starring famous actors
Jodie Foster, Kate Winslet, Christoph Waltz and
John C. Reilly. The film Carnage is very close to
the play, except that the setting was transferred
from Paris to Brooklyn – even though the filming
took place in Paris, due to the fact that Polanski
is wanted in the States on six criminal counts,
including rape.
Reza had no scruples working and writing with
Polanski, stating that it went very well because
neither of them were concerned with meaning,
but rather with the instinct of the story. “You
know, critics in general always have a tendency
to give a sociological dimension to my work. For
me, I’m thrilled they say that, but it’s not that that
animates me. What motivates me most is writing
about people who are well brought up and yet,
underneath that veneer, they break down. Their
nerves break down. It’s when you hold yourself
well until you just can’t any more, until your instinct
takes over. It’s physiological”, Reza told The
Guardian in an interview.
Reza, who has a son and a daughter with film
director Didier Martiny, went to school and studied
in Paris. She began her career as an actress on the
French stage, performing in contemporary plays
as well as classical ones. In 1987 she began to
write plays herself and soon became successful.
Her first three works, Conversations After a Burial
(1987), The Passage of Winter (1989) and Art,
each won the renowned French Molière Award.
The latter also received a Laurence Olivier Award
and a Tony; this play was produced worldwide and
translated and performed in over 30 languages.
Reza published her first novel Hammerklavier
in 1998, with seven more following, including
Dawn, Evening or Night (2007), a portrait of
the former French president Nicolas Sarkozy,
whom she accompanied for a year, following
his campaign for the presidency. In her book she
portrays him as an ambitious, narcissistic man on
his way to power, always playing a role on the
political stage – and ironically she once again
found herself in the world of theatre.
In 2007, Reza’s play God of Carnage (Le Dieu
du Carnage) was first performed in Zürich.
The production received the Viennese Nestroy
Theatreprize for the best German-language performance of the season. The first English adaptation
of the play, in a translation by Reza’s long time
collaborator Christopher Hampton, opened in
London in March 2008, starring Ralph Fiennes and
others. The London production won the Laurence
Olivier Award for Best New Comedy; Hampton
accepted the prize on behalf of Yasmina Reza.
The Broadway adaptation, starring renowned
actors James Gandolfini, Jeff Daniels, Marcia
Gay Harden and Hope Davis, won Best Play at
the 2009 Tony Awards.
Regarding her cosmopolitan family (her father is
a Jewish Iranian of Russian descent, her mother a
Jewish Hungarian), Reza once stated that her only
home is the French language. It is more important
to her how the characters on stage speak than
what is being said. Thus Reza sometimes chooses
words because of their sound, ignoring the fact
that their use might result in incorrect syntax. Her
background gives Reza the unique perspective
of an acute and wryly interested observer, even
though she feels French and is fluent in her country’s socio-cultural subtleties.
The playwright is a star in France and the daily
newspaper Libération once compared the media
circus surrounding the production of one of her
plays to the excitement generated by release of
the Harry Potter books.
The author’s own experience as an actress strongly
influences her writing. Her American translator,
David Ives, has said in the past that “half the
reason her plays get done is because actors want
to do them… There’s a crackling surface there
for a performer.” All her plays are set within a
single set and the characters’ backgrounds are
of no importance, and she never seeks to explain
or deconstruct them for the audience: “I’m not
interested in what they were like as children, in
psychoanalysis, because writing is totally instinctive.
I work like a painter. If a painter is doing a portrait
of someone, he’s not interested in their childhood;
he paints what he sees. There’s no explanation
because it doesn’t mean anything.” One element,
which almost all of her main characters have in
common, is their upbringing in a Jewish upperclass society. This points to an autobiographical
input in her texts, but Reza states that she does
not write about things she experienced, but rather
explores new possibilities, accesses the unknown
and thus, through her writing, lives the lives of
others. The four characters in God of Carnage
are like personal fragmentations to her – people
with different, even antagonistic points of view,
but, depending on the moment and mood, she
could be all of them.
Her portrayal of the different facets of the human
condition made Yasmina Reza famous, but she
doesn’t consider herself a celebrity or an intellectual. “I’m a writer and that‘s not the same… I
don’t want to have an opinion on current affairs,
on politics and, in a way, that’s bad for me because if you take the position of an intellectual, it
gives you authority. But – too bad – I don’t want
to do it. I have pretension enough to think that
writing should have its own authority”, she said
in an interview. Reza’s aim is to lift the audience
into another dimension, to take people out of
their everyday life, and also to make them wiser.
Jara Schmidt
http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2012/jan/22/yasmina-rezainterview-carnage-polanski
http://www.sueddeutsche.de/politik/buch-yasmina-reza-uebersarkozy-als-ob-es-kein-gestern-gaebe-1.888908
http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-56388140.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yasmina_Reza#cite_note-5
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yasmina_Reza
Christopher
Hampton
– never lost in translation
Christopher James Hampton, who translated
Yasmina Reza’s Le Dieu du Carnage into the
English version God of Carnage, is a British playwright, screen writer and film director. He was born
in Faial, Azores in 1946 to British parents and is
best known for screenplays such as Dangerous
Liaisons (1988), adapted from his own play, and,
more recently, Atonement (2007), an adaptation
of Ian McEwan’s novel. Both screenplays received
Oscar nominations and Dangerous Liaisons won
the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.
Hampton, who went to school with fellow dramatist
David Hare, became involved with theatre while
at Oxford University, where his play When Did
You Last See My Mother? was first performed. It
reflects Hampton’s own experience with adolescent
homosexuality. The student Hampton sent his play
to agent Peggy Ramsay, who interested William
Gaskill in it. The play was performed at the Royal
Court Theatre in London, and soon transferred
to the Comedy Theatre. Hampton thus, in 1966,
became the youngest writer to have a play performed in the West End in the modern era. From
1968 to 1970 he worked as the resident dramatist
and literary manager at the Royal Court Theatre.
Even at this early stage in his writing career it was
evident that sharp, sophisticated dialogue was his
undisputed strength.
Hampton has translated most of Reza’s plays for
the British stage. In an interview Reza jokingly
said: “I adore him, he’s a great friend, but I’m not
blindly trusting. I remember the first time we met,
he had translated Art into English and I called
him up and said, ‘I received your first draft.’ He
said, ‘What do you mean, my first draft? It’s the
play. It’s the translation. It’s not a draft.’ I said,
‘Yes it is. There’s work to be done.’ Up to that
point, Christopher had only ever translated dead
people. This was the first time he’d had someone
alive, on the phone to him. We reworked and
reworked it and I know I was annoying him and
he was saying to people, ‘She’s giving me such
a hard time and she barely speaks English!’”
Reza, to whom the sound of words means a great
deal, consequently improved her English – and
Hampton jokingly claims that she did it to make
his life a misery: “I studied languages at Oxford,
French and German, and I’m very passionate
about rendering accurately the intention of the
author. There are some writers I couldn’t translate
– I’ve been offered Pirandello and Lorca, but I
can’t convince myself of what their intentions are.
Those I do choose, I feel a kinship and affinity”,
Hampton stated in a 2011 interview of author
and translator with the LA Times.
When they sat down to discuss God of Carnage,
Reza, who has seen the play performed in different countries, noted that each country brings
its own culture, aesthetic, and moral standards
into the performance. According to her, the best
actors are always inventive and unpredictable.
Hampton adds: “What strikes me is how flexible
[Yasmina’s] plays are to fit quite a wide range of
actors. We had 21 casts in Art in London, who
ranged in age from their 20s to 70s. Her plays
bend themselves to the actors, […] which is quite
rare. With other plays, mine included, you have
to be specific in the casting.”
Asked about the changes that were made in the
English translation, Hampton answers that there
were none in terms of the content of the play.
He explains: “Yasmina is very specific about
everything. She doesn’t really want anything to
appear in front of the audience that she didn’t
write. Sometimes she gets exasperated. Once,
she took me aside, and in an exasperated way
said, ‘English is such a poor language!’”
Though Reza doesn’t necessarily consider humor
a distinct criterion, some people who saw the
Paris production of God of Carnage (which was
directed by Reza) said that it was more serious and
less comic than the English-language stagings. “I
would say the play had a rather somber tone in
Paris. Yasmina is ambivalent about the audience’s
laughter. I embrace it. I don’t think it compromises
the seriousness of the play in the least to have
the audience laughing”, the translator points out.
Englische Stilmöbel
direkt vom Hersteller - auf 800 qm
Spitzenqualität in Leder, Mahagoni, Eibe & Walnuß
Jara Schmidt
Antik & Replikas
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/culturemonster/2011/04/yasminareza-and-christopher-hampton-talk-god-of-carnage-1.html
http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2012/jan/22/yasmina-rezainterview-carnage-polanski
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hampton
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Meet our Cast
Ralph Fellows (Alan Raleigh)
Ralph had his
share of violence while at
school. He
remembers a
rather nasty incident of bullying
when he was
in 7 th grade.
Fellow student
Chad Mitchell accused Ralph of ratting him
out for smoking pot in the bathroom. Although
Ralph denied this, Chad, who was not only
stoned but also going through a massive growth
spurt at the time, making him a full head taller
than Ralph, proceeded to punch him in the solar
plexus and walked away, leaving Ralph to deal
with a lack of breath and a very high curb from
which he fell as he lost consciousness. He fell
so hard that his glasses broke and bits of glass
became embedded in his forehead. And as his
body scraped across the rough asphalt, the skin
on his left hand middle finger was practically
shaved to the bone. Needless to say, these
injuries kept Ralph away from school for some
time. As Ralph had been supplying his mates
with pot, many of his customers were understandably upset about his absence. One boy in
particular, Jim, a muscular individual, decided
that the punishment the school principal had
imposed on Chad was not stringent enough.
Ralph later heard that Jim grabbed Chad and
stuffed him into a metal trashcan (like Oscar’s
in Sesame Street), beating it repeatedly with
a two-by-four until it molded to his body. Reno
was not exactly Cobble Hill Park, Brooklyn.
Amanda Lee (Annette Raleigh)
Af ter spending her childhood
and
young adulthood moving
around the
mid-western,
nor th-eastern
and southern
United States,
Amanda finally settled in Hamburg in
1991. With her extensive experience of being the “new girl in town”, she looked for
a quick way to meet people and discovered Hamburg’s English-language theatre
community. And immediately became addicted! Since then she has appeared in nu-
merous shows with the University Players,
the Rover Rep Theatre and, of course, the
Hamburg Players. Her latest forays onto the
Marschnerstraße stage were as the bubbly
Truvy in Steel Magnolias and the (dare we
say) bitchy Cassie in Neil Simon’s Rumors.
Her perennial “new girl in town” status also
provided more than enough experience with
bullying – on the receiving end, of course.
Being a precocious brat, as she ruefully suspects she might have been, probably didn’t
help matters. Fortunately, the bullying never
reached the stage of physical attack, and
time has relativized the mental anguish. But
there are definitely moments when she’d like
to get back at Darren Howater for that stupid nickname he gave her in second grade!
Jason Couch (Michael Novak)
Jason hails
from Wales
(which rhymes,
surprisingly)
and joined
the Hamburg
Players in 1996
af ter being
asked at British
Day whether he
was interested in acting. Jason auditioned for
Keeping Down with the Joneses and got the
part of the intolerable neighbour Raymond.
He then played in Charley’s Aunt, Barefoot in
the Park, Love Letters, The Mousetrap and A
Midsummer Night’s Dream. He also directed
One O’Clock from the House and Barefoot in
the Park. Jason has twice taken part in the annual European F E AT S festival for the Hamburg
Players, once as director and actor in Antwerp
in the play Secrets by Giles Cole, for which he
won Best Supporting Actor, and in Luxemburg
in An Actor’s Nightmare, for which he won
Best Actor. Jason has also acted in and directed numerous productions for the University
Players and the Rover Rep Theatre. Jason has
thankfully never been exposed to bullying, but,
like Michael in the play, he has an antipathy
for rodents and the like and is ecstatic that
the hamster is gone. He’s also thrilled to be
back on the Theater an der Marschnerstraße
stage for the first time in 13 years.
Agnetha Höfels (Veronika Novak)
In
2 0 1 2 , – Agnetha - in single combat. So, after getA g n e t h a ting hit on the head with a R E A L shovel (the
moved from bully!), her wound required several stitches.
the pretty town Her parents, however, opted to forego legal
of Heidelberg proceedings and thus did not sue for compento Hamburg sation. Agnetha had her first appearance on
in the north to a theatre stage at the age of 13 and immedieducate young ately became addicted. Since boys in puberty
“Hamburgers ”. are an endangered species when it comes
In kindergar- to acting in a play, she had to undergo sevten, she always wanted to be a boy and join eral gender reassignments here as well. Since
a band of robbers and scuffle with the guys. experience is the best teacher, she was able
While girls usually got a floral paper wreath to to profit from her former days as a sandbox
wear on their hair on birthdays, little Agnetha rowdy. While studying, she continued acting
insisted on getting a Robin Hood hat like the in several German-speaking theatre groups.
boys. Unfortunately, one of the boys resorted Now, in her debut for the Hamburg Players, she
to unfair means to defeat the King of Thieves is also, for the first time, performing in English.
…and
…Directors
Eddie Gray
This is Eddie’s
second time
directing for
the Hamburg
Players, t he
first being
Christopher
Durang’s Beyond
Therapy in 2011
as co-director.
He’s also been very active on stage, most recently as Ken in Neil Simon’s Rumors. Other
past favourite HPs roles were Harald in Proof,
Whickam in Pride and Prejudice, and Dick in
(Director)
Play It Again, Sam. When confronted with bullying, Eddie’s meanest weapon was German!
In 7th grade, when Eddie went to school with a
new spiky haircut, a popular girl sitting behind
him (Was it Ashley?) snootily asked, “What happened to your head? Did you get run over by a
lawn mower?” Being the dork/Germophile he
is, Eddie retorted, “Du bist häßlich.” This comeback fell on deaf ears, as Ashley looked around
quizzically asking her friend what it meant. GOT
HER GOOD! Eddie would also like to take this
opportunity to thank this amazing cast and crew
for their dedication to the show and for making
God of Carnage such an amazing experience!
Courtney Peltzer (Assistant Director)
The third of into the assistant directing / co-directing chairs,
five children, where she has the freedom to bully her fellow
C o u r t n e y actors. An adolescent fight shows perhaps her
Peltzer spent a true colours: a muttered ‘bitch’ to a girl from
good part of a rival high school led to a two-week battle
her childhood between high school cliques, culminating in aneither instigating other girl from the rival high school being forced
a fight or bear- to apologize to Courtney in front of a crowd of
ing the wrath of schoolmates. Oh, the power and stupidity of
a sibling’s anger. “sweet sixteen”. Currently, she plays the real life
It was good training for the theatre: after spending role of mediator to her two and four-year-old sons
time on stage in HP productions such as Death and has developed a great deal of respect for
of a Salesman and Wyrd Sisters, she stepped her own parents since becoming a mother herself.
Glossary of
Yuppie/Hipster
Parenting Terms
Admissions process
aka preschool registration. Requires application
forms, essays and personal interviews. Possibly
bribery. Yes, for a four-year-old. Don’t you care
about your child’s future?
AP
Attachment Parenting. Exactly what it says: kid
attached to parent (boob/sling/bed) until kid
decides to break free, possibly by preschool,
possibly not. Proponents say it’s the only way
for children to build trust in their parents. NonAP parents would beg to differ.
Baby-wearing
A must for the AP parent, but pretty helpful for
other big-city parents. Makes the logistics of
getting from A to B with an infant or toddler on
public transport much easier. Common names:
Ergo, Moby, MeiTai. Yes, there are fights about
which is the best.
Bed-sharing/co-sleeping
Perhaps you freely embrace your AP tendencies
and happily share your bed with everyone in the
house. Or your kid comes toddling into your bed
every night at 3 am. Either way, you co-sleep.
Breast vs. Bottle
The ongoing war of the best way to feed your
baby. Only one way can be right, of course.
Isn’t it obvious five years down the line?
Bugaboo
t h e stroller to have if you’re parenting in Park
Slope. Alternatively, an UppaVista is acceptable.
CIO/Feberizing
Crying it out sleep training. You must not love
your child if you can stand to hear her cry in
her own bed while learning to fall asleep on
her own. Or you’re just really, really tired and
need some damn sleep yourself.
Cloth diapering
If you care anything about the earth, you’ll
refuse the Pampers and embrace FuzziBunz or
BumGenius. And hope your washing machine
doesn’t call it quits.
EC
Elimination communication. How dare you force
your precious child to wear diapers! Don’t you
know he can use the toilet from birth on? Only
realisitic for incredibly patient SAHMs or SAHDs.
Extracurriculars
You do want to raise a well-rounded child,
don’t you? Then you’d better get your precious
one signed up: music, ballet, soccer, karate. A
lesson a day is probably a good rule of thumb.
Admissions committees look at these things.
Preschool admissions committees, that is.
Mommy bloggers
So you’ve hung your career on a nail to be a
mommy? And you always had these big dreams
of being a bestselling author? Start a blog
and monetize your little one’s highs and lows.
And prove once and for all, you’re parenting
the right way.
Nanny share
Somebody’s got to watch your kid if you’re off
to the office in Manhattan. Why not split the
costs with a friend?
Playdate
Ostensibly, an opportunity for your toddler or
preschooler to get together with a friend. In
reality, an opportunity for you to get together
with another mom or dad and have some
wine while your kids fight over Thomas the
Tank engines.
Redshirting
Taken over from college sport practices, holding
your child back a year before sending him to
school to increase his chances of academic
and social success. Can backfire if your child
ends up being twice the size of his classmates.
SAHD
Stay at home dad. A rare species spotted
occasionally at the playground.
SAHM
Stay at home mom. The only way to be a
good mother.
Stroller dad
Obviously, a caring, hands-on father. He’s the
one out taking the baby for walks. Because those
walks are indeed the hard part of parenting
a baby.
Tuition
What you pay for your child’s private school
education in Brooklyn. Budget around
$36,000/year. Yes, that’s thirty-six-thousand.
Bye-bye, SAHM dreams.
WAHM
Work at home mom. The only way to be a
good mother.
WOHM
Work outside the home mom. The only way to
be a good mother.
Text: Courtney Peltzer (a Bugaboo-owning, babywearing
WAHM/WOHM who will not be paying private school tuition,
thank you very much)
This is not a good year for
those of us who like continuity
and having their friends close.
After announcing that our friend Julie Spanswick
was leaving for Toulouse
(which, sadly, became
a reality in April), we
had to cope with another major emotional
and organizational
change: After 24 years
in Hamburg, Cathy
Schwerin, one-time
chair of the Hamburg
Players, and long-time
honorary secretary,
decided during a sixmonth-stay in her native Australia that it was
time to go back there for
good and make a life
there. We stand in awe
at the enormity of her
decision; the courage
inherent in such a step
cannot be over-estimated. Cathy leaves a full
and rich life here with
many friends and a successful career and will more or less start over from
scratch when she gets back home, albeit aided
by friends and family in her new – and old –
home. For those of us who know her though, this
courage is no surprise. Cathy is not a loud, but
always a steadfast and decisive voice, invariably
on the side of reason and kindness. Her impressive organizational skills have made the work on
the committee smooth and enjoyable. She has
given us many fine performances (starting with
Gwendolyn in The Importance of Being Earnest
in 1999, through to a bystander and a maid –
my personal favorite
and a lesson in making the most of a small
part – in Pygmalion in
2011), as well as several wonderful shows
that she directed with
Hamburg Players legend Peter Bigglestone
(The Matchmaker in
2000) and Sonny
Pathak (A Rise in the
Market in 2002). But
she seemed to really
hit her directorial
stride with her friend
and fellow Aussie
Wiebke Störtenbecker
(A Woman of No
Importance in 2008
and Relative Values
in 2005). Above and
beyond, she could
always be relied on
to help, not only as a
committee member, but backstage and front of
house. She was our rock and her loss will not be
easily compensated. Fortunately, she has close
ties to Hamburg (her son Jimmie still lives here)
and intends to stay a Hamburg Player, so there’s
hope that we can stay close, continue to pester her
with questions via email , and will see her again.
Goodbye Cathy,
you’ll be sorely missed!
- A wide selection of British
Essentials and Gifts on offer.
- Snack & Shop at the same time !
- Roddas Cornish Cream Teas
- Cornish Pasties & Various Hot Snacks
- English Breakfasts - incl. The Full Monty!**
(Only Saturdays 10:00 . 15:00)
** Please reserve to avoid disappointment
Lexi von Hoffmann
Ellen Bergman
P r o f i l e o f a H a m b u r g P l ay e r
The most striking thing about Ellen must be
her enormous ENERGY . She seems to bristle
with the need to move, to tackle, to do. And she
does: You should see her dancing (or maybe
you did, in Rumors? Then you know what I’m
talking about). Or you should see her romping
with little kids (who are magnetically drawn to
her). Unbounded energy! When she went to
high school in her native Coon Rapids, and at
Gustavus Adolphus College, both in Minnesota,
as an outlet for her need to move she was on
their respective swim teams, and although she is
not swimming competitively anymore, she still
enjoys the sport as well as other means of working out. But she is no jock. Far from it. She is a
SENSITIVE person with a good understanding
of how people tick and how necessary it can be
to talk about feelings. She needs INTERACTION to the kids, not ‘grandma’; and the Bergmans
WITH OTHERS, and loves talking with people, actually know their German family in Schleswiglaughing with them, finding out their views Holstein. Although she obviously achieved her
and outlook. It is her OPENNESS which allows goal of living in Germany, she might just as easily
her both to talk about her own feelings, but have ended up in China or Namibia, where she
also to listen to what others have to say and visited before she finally made it to Hamburg.
accept their point of view and incorporate it Obviously, she is not only FEARLESS and will
into her own reactions and plans – probably a throw herself into the unknown with gusto, but
necessary personality trait if you come from a she actually seems to thrive on IMMERSING
family of 27 (twenty seven!) first cousins (‘We’re HERSELF in very different worlds and cultures.
a few football teams’, says Ellen). And it is a Her CURIOSITY drives her forward into new
question of genuine INTEREST IN OTHER experiences and situations. In the end, it was her
PEOPLE – and Ellen does want to find out about aunt Janelle – who lives and works in Hamburg
them rather than just listen to her own drum – who managed to make Ellen’s dream to live
without caring about the sentiments of others. in Germany a reality by finding her a job at a
Ellen has always had a genuine interest in software company. To be honest, I’m not sure
anything foreign and ‘other’: She decided when exactly what her job there entailed – despite
she was still little that she wanted to live in Ellen’s efforts to explain it to me. (Interestingly,
Germany one day – maybe because the German the same is true of her current job. Such is
roots were always very apparent in her family (the the nature of my ignorance about all things
name Bergman – though with one ‘n’ dropped IT). I don’t think Ellen herself knew what was
in American fashion – is a clue to her roots); expected of her at first. But she is smart and a
and her grandmother has always been ‘Oma’ hard worker, so she did her RESEARCH and
– with signature energy, ENTHUSIASM and
CREATIVITY – threw herself into it. But this
was not the only thing she threw herself into. In
2009, she found The Hamburg Players and joined
us for our production of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. I
have vivid memories of our first meeting: I was
sitting on a loud speaker backstage, prompting;
she threw glass into a bucket offstage (for the
sound of breaking glass). The things you do
to be part of the magic of theatre… Our next
production, A Christmas Carol, saw her onstage,
well, actually all over the stage! Many of us
played several roles in that play, but she took
the cake: She put her amazing VERSATILITY
to work and played 8 different roles involving
11 (eleven!) costume changes. Backstage you
would only catch fleeting glimpses of her turning
herself from handicapped beggar into prostitute, maid, Cratchit daughter, or cockney boy.
Still, she managed to become friends with
many of the people involved, as our friendship
certainly dates from this play. Since Christmas
Carol, Ellen has been a regular on our stage,
giving fine, sensitive performances in Much Ado
About Nothing, Doubt, Proof’, Pride and Prejudice,
and, lately, Rumors. When not on our stage, she
has been seen in University Players and Rover
Rep productions. In 2012, together with Harald
Djürken, she embarked on the adventure of
directing Steel Magnolias. The combined ages
and exposure to theatre of the six actors involved
(all of them seasoned Hamburg Players: Valerie
Doyle, Izzy Orde, Amy Lee, Jocasta Godlieb, Julie
Spanswick, and yours truly) could have been
daunting to someone with less COURAGE
than Ellen, then only 26 years old. But she had
all her ducks in a row, knew exactly what she
wanted, and, more importantly, how to get it. She
confronted the older broads in the cast with the
STRENGTH OF HER OWN CONVICTIONS,
so that none of us ever managed to sneak an
insincere moment or an overacted attitude
past her. She called us on our preconceptions
and wouldn’t let us rely on experience rather
than explore who we might play. And then, to
top it all, when Izzy Orde got so sick that she
couldn’t do the second week of performances,
Ellen joined the cast and without so much as
an extra rehearsal gave a seamless performance.
So seamless in fact that the audience who was,
of course, apprised of the necessary change
didn’t even realize which actor had been replaced. And such is her HUMILITY that she
brushed her achievement off as if it were nothing.
And there you have it: Combine energy, sensitivity, interaction with others, openness, interest
in other people, fearlessness, curiosity, willingness to immerse yourself, research, enthusiasm,
creativity, versatility, courage, strength of your
own convictions, and humility, and you end up
with a description of what it is that makes a fine
actor – almost. The one thing you still need to
add is theatre magic – and Ellen has provided
us with many, many instances of theatre magic
since she has been with us. My favorite magical
moment was when she was playing the youngest
Bennet daughter, Lydia, in Pride and Prejudice.
After spending almost a year with Jane Austen’s
book, all existing plays based on the book, and
all movies made of the book, I thought that I
knew everything there was to know about all
the Bennet girls. In all versions that I am aware
of, Lydia Bennet is portrayed as calculating and
manipulative, and so a little unpleasant. Along
came Ellen and gave us a very young, clueless,
indulged, foolish, wild Lydia – but essentially just
an innocent child. What a revelation! The magic
of an original interpretation, of a completely new
take on a character that you thought you knew!
On a very personal level, the above mix, with
fierce loyalty and unquestioning support added
to it, in my book gives a very good definition
of a friend – my friend Ellen. So, all theatre
productions aside, I can’t wait for the next occasion when Ellen and I pop some corn and slip
a DVD in the player to be amused, amazed, and
entertained together – before we next (hopefully!) amuse, amaze and entertain you again.
Lexi von Hoffmann
The Hamburg Players e.V. ABONNEMENT S C HEME 2 014 / 2 015 SEASON
secretary@hamburgplayers.de
Publicity
Birgit Brink, Martina Plieger
pr@hamburgplayers.de
A dv e rt i s i n g
Jürgen G. Schmidt
Tel. (040) 450 05 22
advert@hamburgplayers.de
Ticket subscription – “Abonnement”
Please note that the Wednesday 1st week is the lower-price Premiere which is not bookable in abonnement.
Petra Nowak
Tel. (040) 653 82 88
Möllner Landstr. 32 e, 21465 Reinbek-Neuschönningstedt
abonnement@hamburgplayers.de
Our abonnement prices are unchanged:
(plus EUR 1.00 per ticket postage & admin.)
M a i l i n g l i s t, t i c k e t s & g e n e r a l i n f o r m at i o n
The dates for our 2014/2015 season are as follows
Reni Pathak
Tel./Fax (040) 713 13 99
tickets@hamburgplayers.de
1st Week
2nd Week
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Saturday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
(7.30 pm)
(7.30 pm)
(3.30 pm)
(7.30 pm)
(7.30 pm)
(7.30 pm)
(7.30 pm)
(7.30 pm)
Rows 1 – 9
Rows 10 – 13
Rows 14 – 16
6 Novembre 2015
7 Novembre 2015
8 Novembre 2015
8 Novembre 2015
12 Novembre 2015
13 Novembre 2015
14 Novembre 2015
15 Novembre 2015
EUR 11.50 per seat
EUR 9.00 per seat
EUR 8.00 per seat
5 February 2015
6 February 2015
7 February 2015
7 February 2015
11 February 2015
12 February 2015
13 February 2015
14 February 2015
4 June 2015
5 June 2015
6 June 2015
6 June 2015
10 June 2015
11 June 2015
12 June 2015
13 June 2015
All performances will be at Theater an der Marschnerstrasse, Marschnerstr. 46, 22081 Hamburg
!
Abo group bookings welcome – why not make up a party and sit together, or introduce your friends to the
Hamburg Players by presenting them with a gift abonnement?
Please return this form no later than Saturday, 12 July 2014. We thank you for your continued support and
look forward to welcoming you again next season!
To: Petra Nowak, Möllner Landstr. 32 e, 21465 Reinbek-Neuschönningstedt
Fax: 040-713 13 99 or e-mail: abonnement@hamburgplayers.de
I apply for__________________________________ tickets at EUR____________________________________________ (plus EUR 1.00 per ticket admin. costs)
for (please indicate order of preference):
1st Week
2nd Week
c
Thursday
c
Wednesday
c
Friday
c
Thursday
c
Saturday (3.30 pm)
c
Friday
c
Saturday (7.30 pm)
c
Saturday (7.30 pm)
(Block Letters Please)
Name________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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P L E A S E D O N O T S E N D A N Y P AY M E N T W I T H Y O U R A P P L I C A T I O N F O R M
The Hamburg Players e.V.
M e m b e r s h i p a n d c l u b i n f o r m at i o n
Valerie Doyle (Chair)
info@hamburgplayers.de
Lexi von Hoffmann (Vice Chair)
info@hamburgplayers.de
ABONNEMENT S C HEME 2 0 1 4 / 2 0 1 5 SEASON
C o m m i t t e e a n d g e n e r a l i n f o r m at i o n
Please note: as a continued thank-you to our Abonnenten, we are offering season’s tickets at the old prices.
Order your season’s tickets by July to enjoy the cheaper prices!
Once again we should be pleased to accept your request for Abonnement seats for our next season. Please
return the form at the bottom of this circular to us as soon as possible. We deal with your applications strictly
on the basis of “date of receipt”, i.e., the sooner we receive your request, the better your chance of being offered
the day and seat of your choice. So please act quickly!