(By Sebastian Betzold) - Unusual material in the Theatrallalla. There, where things like to be colourful, shrill and deliberately trashy, artistic director Thomas Bäppler-Wolf brings the monologue "The announcer of a striptease act won't give up" by the celebrated writer Bodo Kirchhoff to the stage with his sixth directorial work. Since Bäppler-Wolf, as he himself says, has problems with memorizing long texts, there was no question in his mind from the beginning that he would not be on stage himself for the monologue. His choice fell on the young actor Stefan Pescheck, who had recently given his Theatrallalla premiere in the Western parody "Winnetuck": "Bäppi then asked me last year if I wouldn't like to embody the "Ansager"," says Pescheck. "He had seen me on stage shortly beforehand at the Comoedienhaus in Hanau-Wilhelmsbad and was of the opinion that the role of the announcer would suit me well."
And with that Thomas Bäppler-Wolf was absolutely right. Because at the premiere yesterday, Wednesday, Pescheck delivered a brilliant performance, which was appreciated with thunderous applause at the end. This first solo play was a very special challenge for Stefan Pescheck. "What still excites me as an actor and what I still lack in experience is actually to take on the role in a solo piece - and to be allowed to lead through the evening alone for once. Of course, one has concerns about not losing the thread. I have great respect for this challenge but I'm happy to have the chance at Theatrallalla."
He used the chance perfectly. Without a text hanger he played through the not exactly easy monologue and showed incredibly many facets of his skills. At times he shows himself charming and humorous as an announcer, then suddenly flaring up and downright raving, then again playful and almost a bit diva-like. While he has to bridge the time until the sensational Andrea finally enters the stage, he moves from the techniques of traditional striptease to Sunday phone calls with his mother, his hatred of an overly critical newspaper columnist, to Guiseppe Verdi and even the death penalty. This is funny, rousing and also enigmatic, thriving on the perfect interplay of the text with the performance of the actor, who even managed to never let comments from the audience throw him off his game.
However, Stefan Pescheck does not claim the praise for himself alone. His director has also contributed significantly to making this version of the monologue, which premiered in 1995, such a success: "Thomas is very pleasant as a director! You can call this production a teamwork. The collaboration is very loose and relaxed and I get to bring in all the ideas I have." Bäppler-Wolf also put his own stamp on the play by adding some vocal interludes to the monologue. The songs he chose for this fit the content of each passage of text very well and lighten the mood even more.
Some regulars of the Theatrallallas like to be put off by the fact that Bäppi is not on stage himself. But that shouldn't be a reason here not to listen to the announcer for nearly two hours. Because it's not just that the play is simply good. It is above all the multi-faceted performance of a more than confident Stefan Pescheck that makes this Bodo Kirchhoff adaptation so successful. For the actor it is clear that this will not be his last collaboration with Bäppi: "In any case, we will continue to work together. I'll be involved in "Cleopatra" soon and will be in "Bats" next year." We look forward to it!
For playtimes and more info on the play, check out our events calendar at: <link https: www.frankfurt-tipp.de veranstaltungen s event der-ansager-einer-stripteasenummer-gibt-nicht-auf.html _blank>
www.frankfurt-tipp.de/veranstaltungen/s/event/der-ansager-einer-stripteasenummer-gibt-nicht-auf.html
