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, financial ruin, 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 horror of a politically collapsed world with all the means of comedy. The scenes by Karl Valentin and Liesl Karlstadt are complemented by texts by her contemporary Daniil Charms. The work of the author, who was persecuted under Stalinism, draws on Valentin and Karlstadt’s humorous, exaggerated observations of everyday life and tells of a world whose absurdity is as funny as it is threatening.
Like a ghost train ride, this evening takes you into the depths of fear – and laughs right in its face