Restmüll (Theater am Ortweinplatz)

This review is for the Wednesday, September 21, 2011 performance of Restmüll by Ko van den Bosch. The production was directed by Manfred Weissensteiner and performed at the Theater am Ortweinplatz, Graz.


Two child actors and one seasoned professional. That was the cast of Ko van den Bosch's Restmüll, a realistically absurb play about two young brothers who have been living without a father or mother for six years. Gustav, the older brother, is the man of the house and spends his time either watching tv, sleeping or eating. With his bright red hair. Gustav, played by Jakob Soukup, is bold, opinionated, witty, street smart and a big-talker. On the other hand, younger brother Boris (Clemens Joham) is curious, gullable, well-behaved and brave. Both boys were well cast and contrasted each other well; although, credit must be given to Soukup who acted with such procision that some acting students at any creditable university haven't even achieved yet. He effectively showed a child who is the big guy when he knows what he is talking about, but the second he is in unfamiliar waters he becomes a massive scaredy-cat.

Boris (Clemens Joham) and Gustav (Jakob Soukup)

As for the professional in the cast, Christian Ruck played a very effective Vater-in-denial. The father of the two boys hide himself in the living room sofa to get away from the sad reality of his deceased wife. Though emotionally closed, the hippie-like father goes through the years collected everything the boys lose to the sofa, even things like toe-nail clippings or farts. The sofa is a brilliant metaphor for ones own mind, the father chooses to close himself off from the children because of grief, the children are forced to go on with life and prematurely become adults. This piece is very relavant to a child from today who may have a deceased parent or parents who get divorced and then close themselves off to their children. Gustav is unwilling to forgive his father at first, but Boris, perhaps because he is younger and more open-hearted, managed to remind their father of his duty to his family. Here Gustav finally recognizes his father as someone who didn't abandon his family to hurt them, but rather because he couldn't deal with life itself. The brothers make it clear to their father that a father, even one who isn't perfect, is better than no father at all.
This is an excellent play for young and old and because the principle characters are played be children it may be more accessable to a younger audience. The dialogue was very witty and the story was well thought out. My only major critic is that the story could have been told much faster. For the majority of the piece a line was said and then characters acted and then the next line was said. If actions and lines could have been incorporated more the piece would have flowed much better.

Overall - 6.5/10

Der Zerrissene (Pascal Productions)

This review is for the production of Der Zerrissene written by Johann Nepomuk Nestroy and performed by Pascal Production in Schloss Traun, Upper Austria.

I saw this production back in August and was the only summer theatre I managed to see. Nestroy's pieces are notorious for being untranslatable into the English language because the pieces are so full of Viennese humor very specific to the time period in which the playwright lived and wrote. Therefore, I found it interesting that the director, Ursula Ruhs, decided to set the play in the here and now with a few allusions to the Vienna of times past (the old style Bauernhaus - Farm house). I suppose this was done to translate the piece for a modern audience, so that we would understand the joke and that it wouldn't seem like a museum piece. Although, I must say I would love to see a Nestroy play like a Restoration play, with accurate costumes and everything - but that's just me.

 

As for the cast, all were perfessional, but not all were able to catch the attention of the audience. Title characters did well to tell the story, and it's quite clear that the lead Herr von Lips, Daniel Pascal, carried the show. I felt the show started off rather slow and somewhat dull until the wonderfully witty monologue of Herr von Lips as the zerissenen. Also, the second act started somewhat slow, as if the change of set put a peg into the actor's energy, but then the lively dialogue between Herr von Lips and Krautkopf got the audience back into the piece and laughing heartily. Costumes and set design was ok and it worked for this production. All in all, it was an enjoyable evening and I think such a theatre company is an asset to a suburb like Traun. For a private company I must say the production was well done.
I am definately interested in seeing Pascal and Ruhs' next project!

Overall - 7/10

Trying to stay impartial

Hello all,

You were probably wondering, hey what happened to the reviews? Simply put, it's hard to objectively write about productions when you start to get to know people involved with the production company.

I have decided to change my format a little bit for the upcoming reviews. I will simply write a review and not grade the individual segments of the production but rather give an overall out of 10 rating.

Happy Reading,
Victoria