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Director Ulrich Cyran and set designer Dorothea Mines from the “Achtsam morden” series at the castle festival in Bad Vilbel discuss the advantages and disadvantages of trend movements in the dressing room. © Nicole Merz
“Our culture is generally based on the repression of instincts,” Sigmund Freud once wrote. So why not take the pressure off, thinks the protagonist of the bestseller “Mindful Murder.” After a successful launch last year, the sequel will be staged for the first time at the Castle Festival.
From the summer temperatures at Bad Vilbel Castle we move to the cool walls of the theater cellar. I speak with director Ulrich Cyran and set designer Dorothea Mines about the background and set design of the crime comedy “Achtsam morden” and the sequel “Das Kind in mir will achtsam morden”. The sequel will premiere at the castle festival this year.
Both pieces are based on the novels of the same name by Karsten Dusse, with the sequel being understood as a parody of the self-help book “The Child in You Must Find a Home” by the author Stefanie Stahl.
At the center of “Mindful Murder” is lawyer Björn Diemel, who represents clients that no one else wants to take on. He is currently looking after a mafia boss who likes to surprise people. This in turn leads to a lot of stress at work and in family life. In order to save his marriage, Diemel decides to consult a mindfulness coach. The coach advises him to live more relaxed and in the moment.
The criminal defense attorney doesn’t need to be told twice and calmly kills his client and takes over his illegal business. He also finds more time for his daughter – in the second part he even brings childcare and his shady affairs as a new crook under one roof, literally.
INFO INFO: Light and Shadow Dates and Tickets
The play “Mindful Murder” and its sequel “The Child in Me Wants Mindful Murder” are also about the unknown and the otherworldly. To emphasize these aspects, the stage design in the first part features an LED installation that vaguely resembles a sewn-up mouth.
The second part continues in a darker tone. Transparent plastic slats – typical of slaughterhouses – pick up the theme again and create a shadow play. cos
The play “Mindful Murder” will be performed a few more times in the theater cellar of the Bad Vilbel water castle: Friday, 30th and Saturday, 31st August, both at 11 p.m. and on Sunday, 1st September, at 9 p.m. “The child in me wants to murder mindfully” can be seen four more times, on 6th and 7th September, both at 11 p.m. and on Sunday, 8th September, at 3 p.m. and 9 p.m. in the theater cellar. Tickets are available from the ticket office, Klaus-Havenstein-Weg 1, 0 61 01/55 94 55 or [email protected]. red
In order to find out about the criminal potential of director Ulrich Cyran and set designer Dorothea Mines, my first question is how they themselves deal with mindfulness. Mines says with a smile that she meditates and writes a diary and also places value on mindfulness in everyday life. Cyran, on the other hand, is ambivalent: “I’m not sure, I come from a different generation.” In general, however, the director thinks it makes sense to be mindful of yourself and everyone else.
If mindfulness combines many positive aspects, why does it turn into the opposite for the protagonist? Does the client misunderstand his therapist’s good intentions? “I would say the other way round, he takes the system and uses it to justify himself,” says Mines. Cyran agrees: “Both plays are about manipulation on a meta level – conscious and unconscious.” The protagonist’s wit and charm make it easy to identify with him. His coach would be in the dark about his client’s excesses until the very end anyway. But at the latest when he “mindfully” dismembers a corpse, it becomes clear to the audience that he is not a sympathetic figure, says Cyran.
Then the director is briefly interrupted. A technician asks if it is possible to continue the interview somewhere else. No problem for Cyran and Mines. They relax and head to the dressing room, which is still free. The conversation continues in front of a clothes rack and along a mirrored wall. The financial interests behind the trends are the main problem, Cyran picks up the thread again. This is also reflected in the term “self-care”. Mines says: “Self-care is not about buying a bubble bath for 30 euros, but about being able to say no to things that are too much.”
Basically, the stage designer does not think that mindfulness is a bad thing: “First of all, it is just a concept, and how you acquire it is up to each individual.”
