A better-than-traditional Woyzeck

I don’t actually like Woyzeck very much, so I am not sure why I bought tickets to two different productions in the space of a few weeks. And they seem to be backwards: the usually more restrained Kammerspiele went a little crazy, and the usually too-Regietheater-even-for-me Volkstheater delivered a surprisingly traditional production.

Woyzeck (Sohel Altan G.) and Marie (Magdalena Wiedenhofer). Photo: Arno Declair

Now, this is still Germany, so don’t over-interpret “traditional”. Director Abdullah Kenan Karaca has chosen period costumes and a gorgeous waterfall setting for the outdoor scenes, but that doesn’t mean this is Woyzeck as Büchner would have seen it. No, this is something better. The waterfall is one of three settings, along with the soldiers’ table full of wine and Marie’s dressing room. All exist and are occupied simultaneously—no set pieces leave the stage, and neither do any actors. This keeps the drama moving quickly and also makes some of the action far more disturbing: for instance, the drum major rapes Marie at the waterfall in the background as the soldiers humiliate Woyzeck in the foreground. Neither Marie nor Woyzeck is ever safe from the degrading and dangerous influences of the other characters, because they are never more than a few steps away.

Wozzeck? Woyzeck? Both? Neither?

The Kammerspiele’s strange mash-up of Buchner’s play Woyzeck with Berg’s opera Wozzeck (an adaptation of Buchner’s play) begins at the end. Or rather, it begins with a narration of the end. We never see the conclusion of the play, but we are reminded of it every moment by the set—a pool of water that spans nearly the entire stage. Characters splash through their scenes, and in fact these splashes are perhaps the set’s biggest contribution. While it’s fun to see actors flop around in the pool, the combination of the constantly sloshing water and Berg’s unsettling tone rows sets nerves on edge. (In this play, that’s a good thing.)

Photo: Julian Röder