Karl Valentin

Many of his most famous sketches were created during the Nazi dictatorship. Although he managed throughout his life not to allow himself to be politically appropriated, Valentin was by no means a resistance fighter and openly admitted that he would have joined the NSDAP if more pressure had been exerted on him. He was far too afraid to openly refuse. Karl Valentin was also afraid of all sorts of things in his private life: crowds, artistic failure and every conceivable illness. Against this background, the comedy of his work can be read as a strategy to counter the fear that was omnipresent for him.

This is where Ulrike Arnold, director of the successful productions of “Der Zerrissene” and “Minna von Barnhelm”, and her artistic team come in. She creates a highly comic evening that defies the horrors of a threatening world with a great delight in abysmal comedy and absurd humor.

The scenes by Karl Valentin and Liesl Karlstadt are supplemented with texts by their contemporary Daniil Charms, whose work draws on Valentin and Karlstadt’s absurd observations of everyday life and tells of a reality that is as comical as it is dangerous. Entitled “I know no fear, unless I get scared”, the result is a ludicrous collage that laughs in the face of horror. Franziska Bornkamm (stage), Anna Lechner (costumes) and Clemens Rynkowski and Florian Rynkowski (musical direction) have created a world of surreal images, bizarrely virtuoso live music and grotesque sounds in which everyday life becomes a ghost train and one scene chases the next.

Duration: 1 hour 40 minutes, no break