Chamber plays

The American dream ends in hell

Outstanding ensemble: Johannes Krisch, Claudius von Stolzmann, Robert J. Bartl (from left to right)

(Bild: Theater in der Josefstadt/Moritz Schell)

"Of Mice and Men": John Steinbeck's ingenious text becomes a cruel vivisection of lost souls at the Kammerspiele.

The phenomenon is familiar: a single trick can be enough to elevate a performance from the routine of success to the extraordinary. In this case, the flash of genius is shared by director Torsten Fischer and Herbert Schäfer, who also created the minimalist stage design. What have they achieved?

Steinbeck, who went on to win the Nobel Prize, had conceived the novel, which was published in 1937, as a stage play or screenplay from the outset. The text is dominated by dialog, the prose passages can be read like stage directions. But they glow in a language vibrating with color, fragrance and excitement, and some of these grandiose texts are fluently incorporated into the dialogues by Fischer and Schäfer.

This instantly creates such a compelling atmosphere that the director can concentrate entirely on the gruesome story and the fabulous roles. And how successful it is! Steinbeck's miserable migrant workers George and Lennie, who pant after the American dream of owning their own piece of land, seem to return ten years later in "Waiting for Godot". But Beckett leaves them the rest of a positive prognosis. Steinbeck's characters, on the other hand, go to the devil in a merciless world.

The way Fischer works with the furious ensemble is extraordinary. The agile, wiry George (excellent: Claudius von Stolzmann) fights hopelessly to keep his companion away from the catastrophe. This Lennie is an idiot with a huge heart and even greater strength, who crushes everything he loves to death. What Robert Joseph Bartl, already physically an ideal cast member, forms into a figure of pain here is all sorts of heartbreaking.

The third exceptional performer is Johannes Krisch as a laborer who is soon to be promoted to a waste. At the beginning, the landowner's family - Luka Vlatkovic, Paul Matic and the wonderful Paula Nocker - camp out on the ramp, singing and conjuring up the country idyll that will soon prove to be hell, populated by Alexander Strömer and Ljubisa Lupo Grujcic, commanded by Johannes Seilern. The soon-to-be new management would be well advised not to touch this chamber ensemble of experts.