#peter moltzen

[gosherlocked]

Polizeiruf 110, "Abgrund"

[bettinawerner]

Die Möglichkeit einer Insel 

von Michel Houellebecq 

Berliner Ensemble, Oktober 2019

Regie & Bühne: Robert Borgmann, Licht & Video: Carsten Rüger, Musik: Rashad Becker, Dramaturgie: Amely Joana Haag, Kostüme von mir, mit Silikonkörpern von Sinéad O‘Dwyer

Mit: Sina Martens, Gerrit Jansen, Constanze Becker, Peter Moltzen, Wolfgang Michael, Cynthia Micas und Jonathan Kempf

Fotos: JR Berliner Ensemble 

[biofunmy]

Radical French Novels Welcomed to German Stages

Another challenging-to-stage work of prose fiction is “The Possibility of an Island,” by France’s other great literary enfant terrible, Michel Houellebecq. Against the odds, however, the Berliner Ensemble has served up a robust production of that philosophical, dystopian novel by the young director Robert Borgmann.

If Mr. Pucher’s production cleaves too closely to its source, Mr. Borgmann’s uses Mr. Houellebecq’s novel as a thematic springboard for a visually arresting, superbly acted meditation on love, happiness and immortality.

The main character is a moody and hedonistic comedian, Daniel 1 (Peter Moltzen in an emotionally bold performance), who navigates the vicissitudes of aging, solitude and heartbreak. The production toggles among episodes from his life, including a doomed love affair with a woman several decades his junior (the magnetic Cynthia Micas, a new member of the ensemble) and, thousands of years in the future, reflections on our moribund planet by Daniel’s clones — he’s been reincarnated 25 times.

Daniel 24, nicknamed “the old prophet,” is a Zen-preaching seer played with both gravity and a smirk by the remarkable Wolfgang Michael. It is less clear which time period Sina Martens and Gerrit Jansen, speaking a mixture of English and German, inhabit as a dynamic artistic duo who appear dressed as clowns in Andy Warhol wigs. Yet even at its most unmoored, the production sustains its focused tone and fluid rhythm through a string of witty, dialogue-heavy scenes and stark visual touches. Some, like the omnipresent neon sign proclaiming “L’éternité,” are self-evident, while others, including the giant flowers that threaten to take over the stage or the large panda bear doll in Daniel 1’s apartment, are more cryptic.

Mr. Houellebecq’s bitter and verbose disquisitions on humanity and its discontents don’t transfer easily to a production with an ensemble cast (there’s an extraordinary one-man adaptation of his 2015 novel, “Submission,” in Hamburg, Germany), but Mr. Borgmann succeeds remarkably in translating these anxieties into moods and images of undeniable dramatic power. Like its source, “The Possibility of an Island” holds a mirror up to the contemporary. Despite its science-fiction trappings, Mr. Houellebecq’s interior vision is no less relevant than Ms. Despentes’s broad social canvas. Encountering these daring works on some of Germany’s leading stages feels appropriate in our agitated age.

The Life of Vernon Subutex. Directed by Stefan Pucher. Münchner Kammerspiele. Through Nov. 5.

The Possibility of an Island. Directed by Robert Borgmann. Berliner Ensemble. Through Dec. 27.

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