In the name of the people
Reality under cross-examination: "Zeugen! Ein Strafkammerspiel" (Witnesses! A play of Criminal Court Matters) by Rimini Protokoll at the Berliner Hebbel am Ufer
Süddeutsche Zeitung, Simone Kaempf, 01.08.2004, 3900 Chars
The hierarchy of authority is shown by the court halls: “The judge’s table is always high up, and in Room 500 it is especially high.” So, whoever might sit there next, don’t be afraid, not even of its uprightness. We are informed by a craftsman who demonstrates the various kinds of wood of the interior decorations. Walnut tree or cherry? The important role of legal justice is revealed before us, here in the dramaturgy of materials. The prosecutor explains that the robes are not to be washed, they keep warm in winter time, and the expensive yarn is sometimes stolen out of the lawyers’ offices. He recommends clothing according to the feel-well-factor to the accused and the audience.
Such details gain in special weight with the new evening of the theatre collective Rimini Protokoll at the Berlin Hebbel am Ufer. Helgard Haug, Stefan Kaegi and Daniel Wetzel took their infamously meticulous investigations from the German parliament, via market places and the undertaker’s over to the legal court of Justice. This time it was possible to attend their research live. judges, legal correspondents, people’s prosecutors were nicely cross-examined, or thy invited to observe a trial at the Moabit
Criminal Court of Justice.
The evening’s formal structure is taken from the trial: Charge, hearing of evidence, address to the jury, pronouncement of judgement. Together with the carpenter and the prosecutor appear the following: the juror Ilse Nauck, a hobby-trial-watcher, a court companion, a former accused, an inmate, who of course is played by Fabian Gerhardt. The trial is presented as a theatre-show with anecdotes, dialogues, quotations and interludes: mimicking typical court gestures, like looking down, pretending nothing touches you or weeping silently. Haug, Kaegi and Wetzel burst into the discussion about the profession ever so often by making their amateur actors consciously appear as private people. This reveals the scary influence the environment has on them: The prosecutor looks as crooked like a section-symbol even without his robe. Or the former accused characterises her children as well behaved, simply because they are no offenders.
“Zeugen!” (Witnesses!) looks at the system from within. The core of the matter is verbally encircled from the fringes: the legal system is a difficult topic for most. It is still irritating to find that sentences are based on moral aspects even though a general order of things is naturally accepted. By the way, this is material that a different theatre group also deals with: The Hamburger Richtertheater. It re-enacts trials in court rooms to demonstrate that civil disobedience is nothing but overstepping legal limitations, and the consequent process in return offers chances for moral pleas.
Rimini Protokoll conquers the gaps of the legal system bit by bit in a manner that’s just as sober as absurd. It’s quite plausible that the judge was not invited. Because these are the circumstances which reveal the truth, and – as a flash of ironic thesis – has great theatrical potential. “He who lies doesn’t look to the ground. Inaccurate descriptions are more likely to be correct than logically flawless order of events.”
Observations of reality with the characteristics of service.
“Zeugen!” (Witnesses!) is a brilliant exercise-play, even if it’s less dense that its predecessor “Deadline”. The baggage of innumerable cases and elaborate private affairs weigh heavily on the evening. How is the way the juror reaches a verdict connected to her hobby? These conclusions are highly recommended for the preparation for a date at court. You are not granted the claim for a mild sentence, you have to fight for it.
Zugehörige Projekte
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