Street theater: Berlin Lacht
June 2011

Please put on your headphones; it's with a classical composition, thanks!

Street theater: Berlin Lacht

This time in Berlin we were quite lucky with the place. Ok, we're always happy with the place, where we stay. But this place was more special than the others in good and really bad ways.

The good thing was, that we were in the Bethanien building in Kreuzberg, close to the Oranienstrasse. And we were at the Mariannenplatz, in a kind of park. The street theater festival was going to start, so we were thinking: "Maybe we can put the paintings against one of those walls with grafitti." So we walked into the office of the festival, that was downstairs of our room. We had heard and seen them sitting on the veranda before, having breakfest at Saturday morning at seven.

So they looked at the website and were not too happy with the wall, because nobody would see it. I could better put them on the stage. Yes, sounded better to me too.

We spend the whole weekend at the festival. Putting up the paintings in the morning and taking them off at midnight. Seeing much more street theater as I have seen in my life before. Some acts three times. And learning the drive, they have and what kind of vision or attitude to life they convey. Making photographs, when they perform in front of the paintings, watching the audience, the children react, sitting in the grass.

At night some people performed at the grass. Torches, flares, dancing men and girls, shadows, small circles talking, drinking beer, a guitar, an improvised Aboriginal didgeridoo. It are reflections of dreams and glances of opportunities. They pass away in the summer night, like a ripple of wind passes over the leaves in the trees. Gently dancing to oblivion.

NeuKoeln 48 Houres