Fathers and Sons (Väter und Söhne)
by Brian Friel based on the novel by Iwan Turgenjew
"Modern psychology would say that you refuse to believe in anything because faith requires commitment, and you’re afraid of commitment. And you’re afraid of commitment because that would require you to give everything. And you give nothing. And then you excuse yourself by saying that you regard passion as a luxury: at the same time you know full well in your heart that this excuse is a lie." Yevgeny Bazarov
The two young medical students Arkady and Bazarov return to their rural home for the summer. With their nihilistic convictions they both want to create a completely different society with new values and ideals. But while Arkady tries to connect his vision and present-day circumstances in a pragmatic fashion, Bazarov seeks a radical confrontation with his environment. In the end, his vehement dedication puts his life in danger, and after his death, the question remains whether the reasons for his actions truly lay in his fight for ideals, or in the hopelessness of fulfilling them. What remains of your influence on the world and who will be left to talk of the dead?
***
The production Fathers and Sons (Väter und Söhne) was selected for the Theatertreffen 2016.
Audience prize of the 4. Siegener Biennale 2017
The two young medical students Arkady and Bazarov return to their rural home for the summer. With their nihilistic convictions they both want to create a completely different society with new values and ideals. But while Arkady tries to connect his vision and present-day circumstances in a pragmatic fashion, Bazarov seeks a radical confrontation with his environment. In the end, his vehement dedication puts his life in danger, and after his death, the question remains whether the reasons for his actions truly lay in his fight for ideals, or in the hopelessness of fulfilling them. What remains of your influence on the world and who will be left to talk of the dead?
***
The production Fathers and Sons (Väter und Söhne) was selected for the Theatertreffen 2016.
Audience prize of the 4. Siegener Biennale 2017
Director Daniela Löffner
Stage Regina Lorenz-Schweer
Costumes Katja Strohschneider
Musical preparation Katharina Debus, Ingo Schröder
Dramaturgy David Heiligers
Premiere December 12, 2015
Marcel KohlerArkadij Nikolajitsch Kirsanow; student
Alexander KhuonJewgenij Wasiljew Bazarow; student
Helmut MooshammerNikolaj Petrowitsch Kirsanow; Arkadij's father, landowner
Oliver StokowskiPawel Petrowitsch Kirsanow; Arkadij's uncle, retired officer
Bernd StempelWasilij Iwanowitsch Bazarow; Jewgenij's father, retired military doctor
Barbara SchnitzlerArina Wlasjewna Bazarow; Jewgenij's mother
Lisa HrdinaFenitschka Fedosja Nikolajewna; Nikolaj's mistress
Franziska MachensAnna Sergejewna Odinzowa; Gutsbesitzerin
Kathleen MorgeneyerKaterina Sergejewna; Anna's sister
Elke PetriPrincess Olga; Anna's aunt
Linn ReusseDunjascha; maid at the Kirsanow's
Markwart Müller-ElmauProkofjitsch; valet at the Kirsanow's
Caner SunarPjotr; servant at the Kirsanow's / Fedka; temporary servant at the Bazarow's
Arkadij Nikolajitsch Kirsanow; student
Jewgenij Wasiljew Bazarow; student
Nikolaj Petrowitsch Kirsanow; Arkadij's father, landowner
Pawel Petrowitsch Kirsanow; Arkadij's uncle, retired officer
Wasilij Iwanowitsch Bazarow; Jewgenij's father, retired military doctor
Arina Wlasjewna Bazarow; Jewgenij's mother
Fenitschka Fedosja Nikolajewna; Nikolaj's mistress
Anna Sergejewna Odinzowa; Gutsbesitzerin
Katerina Sergejewna; Anna's sister
Princess Olga; Anna's aunt
Dunjascha; maid at the Kirsanow's
Prokofjitsch; valet at the Kirsanow's
Pjotr; servant at the Kirsanow's / Fedka; temporary servant at the Bazarow's
What's on
Info Meeting
DT Jung*
Kick-Off: SpielKlubs
The artistic directors of the DT Jung* play clubs will present the clubs of the new season. Registration is requested.
Ort wird noch benannt
17:00
Performance has been cancelled
Director: Jessica Weisskirchen
afterwards on stage DT Kontext event: Touching allowed! The other Q&A
Box
19.30
sold out
perh. remaining tickets at evening box office
perh. remaining tickets at evening box office
Director: András Dömötör
Kammer
20.00 - 21.50
19.30 Introduction at the Rangfoyer
“During the four-hour performance the figures come vividly to life and the conflicts, desires, and shifting power structures have sufficient time and space to develop in a comprehensible and moving way. And the way in which the members of the audience are connected to the actors on a spatial level is soon also achieved on a thematic level, with parallels being drawn between historic and modern problems. With the impressively harmonious ensemble around Alexander Khuon (Barzarov), Bernd Stempel (Vasily, Bazarov’s father), Marcel Kohler (Arkady) and Helmut Mooshammer (Nikolai, Akardy’s father), Daniela Löffner achieves a very concentrated, narratively balanced and always highly amusing production, which effortlessly and playfully turns the long evening into a short-lived pleasure.” The eternal conflict between young and old
“During the four-hour performance the figures come vividly to life and the conflicts, desires, and shifting power structures have sufficient time and space to develop in a comprehensible and moving way. And the way in which the members of the audience are connected to the actors on a spatial level is soon also achieved on a thematic level, with parallels being drawn between historic and modern problems. With the impressively harmonious ensemble around Alexander Khuon (Barzarov), Bernd Stempel (Vasily, Bazarov’s father), Marcel Kohler (Arkady) and Helmut Mooshammer (Nikolai, Akardy’s father), Daniela Löffner achieves a very concentrated, narratively balanced and always highly amusing production, which effortlessly and playfully turns the long evening into a short-lived pleasure.”
“The audience sits so close to the characters and their struggles on stage, that it is impossible not to be swept up in the story, which is performed with narrative and human intensity by the wonderful ensemble. There is much talking, arguing and politicising; there are numerous feasts; and there is love and the angry denial of love. Somehow one has the feeling of knowing the play and its themes, while at the same time being gripped by the action.” The search for lost rules of life
“The audience sits so close to the characters and their struggles on stage, that it is impossible not to be swept up in the story, which is performed with narrative and human intensity by the wonderful ensemble. There is much talking, arguing and politicising; there are numerous feasts; and there is love and the angry denial of love. Somehow one has the feeling of knowing the play and its themes, while at the same time being gripped by the action.”
“With what precision the figures have been developed, with what ferocity each and every one is depicted and yet with what genial mildness they communicate with one another despite the stark differences in character. Great, gimmick-free theatre can be enjoyed here, and we the audience are guests at a feast.” The new human will come – for now the old one will have to do
“With what precision the figures have been developed, with what ferocity each and every one is depicted and yet with what genial mildness they communicate with one another despite the stark differences in character. Great, gimmick-free theatre can be enjoyed here, and we the audience are guests at a feast.”
“Moving adeptly between apathy and aplomb, between the sentimental and the gently grotesque, is a hallmark of Daniela Löffner’s production of Fathers and Sons. The famous Turgenev novel was dramatised for theatre by the recently deceased British playwright Brian Friel; the German premiere took place in 1998 in Berlin’s Maxim Gorki Theater. But in this intelligent adaptation by Löffner and her dramaturg David Heiligers, it comes to the stage at just the right time for a variety of reasons. Although it premiered at the end of 2015, it is also a new year’s corker. Always sold out, frequently visited by the jurors of the Berlin Theatertreffen and theatre scouts, it is the event in an otherwise still weak Berlin theatre season (…) Outstanding, a silent bomb in the ensemble, is Bernd Stempel as Father Bazarov. At the hands of his son he experiences a tsunami of emotions, veering between despair and giddy excitement, which he bears with the stoicism of an old, mesmerised child.” Subterfuge and desire
“Moving adeptly between apathy and aplomb, between the sentimental and the gently grotesque, is a hallmark of Daniela Löffner’s production of Fathers and Sons. The famous Turgenev novel was dramatised for theatre by the recently deceased British playwright Brian Friel; the German premiere took place in 1998 in Berlin’s Maxim Gorki Theater. But in this intelligent adaptation by Löffner and her dramaturg David Heiligers, it comes to the stage at just the right time for a variety of reasons. Although it premiered at the end of 2015, it is also a new year’s corker. Always sold out, frequently visited by the jurors of the Berlin Theatertreffen and theatre scouts, it is the event in an otherwise still weak Berlin theatre season (…) Outstanding, a silent bomb in the ensemble, is Bernd Stempel as Father Bazarov. At the hands of his son he experiences a tsunami of emotions, veering between despair and giddy excitement, which he bears with the stoicism of an old, mesmerised child.”
“Sensitively, precisely and with humour, she (Daniela Löffner) depicts multifaceted, strange, emotionally complex people who one watches spellbound for the four hours of the play – until these characters, with their quirks, desires and disappointments have become good acquaintances, with whom one wishes one could spend more time.” Nihilists like us
“Sensitively, precisely and with humour, she (Daniela Löffner) depicts multifaceted, strange, emotionally complex people who one watches spellbound for the four hours of the play – until these characters, with their quirks, desires and disappointments have become good acquaintances, with whom one wishes one could spend more time.”