Intrigued by "Kabale Und Liebe"

Dear Berlin, 

"Kabale Und Liebe” and “Woyzeck” performed by the Berliner Ensemble had more in common than the surface shows because of the fact they are performed by the Berliner Ensemble company. I feel that both shows relied greatly on ignoring the audience unlike Lars in Richard III and relied heavily on the actual text of the show instead of the emotions. When speaking with Hollis about "Kabale Und Liebe”, we thought this may be due to the fact that the Berliner Ensemble perform in the Brecht style, which is giving the audience the logical perspective instead of the emotional perspective. However, when observing the acting, I felt that the actors lacked a connection on stage and I didn’t feel that the scene work was very good. Characters were facing different directions and I was wondering who they were talking to while their partner was on the other side of the stage. As an actor, I know I don’t always face my partner but that is a choice and their reasoning for their characters’ distance didn’t make sense. There should have been a connection between the characters who were having the scenes together and I feel the actors could have made better choices. Also, the pacing of the show was very slow and they should have cut out the circling around the stage before entering because it made no sense. The where of the scene was already established and it was simply an awkward pause between certain parts of the play, which adds to the characters disconnect. Also, knowing the show is double the time of “Love and Intrigue”, which I watched at Mason Gross just made it very clear that the story could be told more concisely without dragging out the show and especially the first half of the show (because of the circling… did I mention that bothered me?). I would also like to add that the character playing Lady Milford seemed to come out of no where and I didn’t know who she was until after the intermission. I have no idea why she had a swing and her role seemed to have a Rapunzel essence (maybe because I felt she was disconnected from the story and was dressed more like a young princess as opposed to a powerful woman). 

Sorry, but not sorry for the sass. 

On the plus side, non-paid actors at Mason Gross performed better than the acting I saw in "Kabale Und Liebe”. When speaking to Christopher, during intermission, it also became clear to me that he wanted to tell a different story that was not telling the surface story of power, but to show more of the connections between the characters and showed more of a love interest. The director’s focal point was Ferdinand’s conflicts with coming of age and becoming a man learning to deal with his father, love, and life. Two of my favorite parts of the Mason Gross production was the music, which led to smooth transitions and amplified the scene’s emotional life for the audience. I also loved when Louise was painting the sky background. I think if I had to choose the first time that theater showed me nothing was precious was when watching “Love and Intrigue” because I remember being shocked when seeing her actually painting on the sky background. I also liked that the set was very simple and I clearly remember the lighting looking clean. At the time, I didn’t know this was a natural light look but as soon as I came to Berlin I was attracted to it. I’ve been paying more attention to lighting when outside and inside the theater. Even though I knew the story of “Kabale Und Liebe”, the director was portraying a completely different story that I felt wasn’t organized properly and felt imbalanced in many ways: from timing, to character relationships, and overuse of text (I guess I’m not a fan of Brecht). Kudos to Christopher and the Mason Gross actors who showed me a more organized and clear story of “Love and Intrigue”. 

-Laura