"Alarm in't Theaterhuus": Pace and humor in the Ohnsorg Theater | NDR.de - culture - stage - theater reports

As of: November 5th, 2024 1:01 p.m

There was a lot of cheering and long applause for the premiere of the comedy “Alarm in’t Theaterhuus – Carmen may not burst” in Hamburg‘s Ohnsorg Theater. Max Claessen staged the comedy of mistakes with speed, funny ideas and a lot of love.

by Daniel Kaiser

The doors slam until the scenery shakes, there are chases and mix-ups. The piece has tempo and timing – this Ohnsorg evening is wonderful fun. The world-famous opera diva Elena Firenzi was abandoned by her jealous husband. Caroline Kiesewetter screws herself up as an Italian opera diva with a dramatic “Noooooooo, he left me!!” powerful voice at operating temperature.

The Callas would be green with envy when it came to drama. Elena kills herself with pills and alcohol and lies in bed like she’s dead, so her long-awaited appearance as “Carmen” has to be cancelled. The opera director Lucia Weyler, played by Beate Kiupel, orders her wallflower assistant and hobby singer Cleo to pretend to be Elena and step in.

Thigh knockers and jokes: slapstick, raunchy, wonderful

And then it starts: Suddenly there are two Elenas dressed as Carmen. Around her are the director’s teenage son Gerd, who has a crush on her (played by Vincent Lang, played Harry’s son, Albus Severus Potter, in “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child”) and Lennart Lemster as the rutting macho hero tenor Leo, who is in the Toilet and hide in the closet.

Open door, close door! Wonderful! Erkki Hopf plays the diva’s cheated husband, Pasquale, and asks the two half-naked young men wonderfully dryly:

“Who are you?”
“Family friends. And who are you?”
“The family!” Dialogue from “Alarm in’t Theaterhuus”

Then there is a hotel bellboy hunting for autographs, played by Annika Krüger, and the chairwoman of the opera guild, played by Verena Peters, who make the chaos on stage perfect – with thigh slaps and jokes. Squirty, slippery, wonderful!

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Flat, standard German and cliche Italian: “Schenauze!”

Peter Nissen has translated Ken Ludwig‘s 2022 comedy into Low German. But in addition to Low German and Standard German, large parts of the piece sound in German with a cliché Italian accent. Ohh! Every word has an additional “e” at the end. People who are very politically correct have to be a bit brave.

In the first act it takes a moment for the comedy tanker to gain momentum, but then there is no stopping it and the audience is laughing their asses off. At the center of the action is the outstanding Nele Larsen as Cleo – just an assistant and then a man-murdering diva. There is real Ohnsorg DNA in her with so much comedy in her gestures, facial expressions and voice. And then she sings too – and how! – once even in an opera duet with Caroline Kiesewetter.

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Intoxicating joy of playing

The whole thing takes place on a set designed by Beate Zoff as a dignified hotel suite from the 1920s with Art Deco lamps. Stephanie Kniesbeck’s costumes are perfectly tailored to the point – right down to the director’s trouser suit and the panties of the young heroes who suddenly appear on stage in the Unterbüx. Director Max Claessen has many lively ideas.

He stages a chase through the suite, once extra quickly and once in slow motion, or he has the actors listening at the door hum Carmen’s “Habanera.” When Elena sings, huge roses grow out of the stage set. The ensemble’s enthusiasm for playing is captivating. This evening is really fun. And at the end, of course, is L’Amour.

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