Back in July I reviewed the long-running musical Linie 1 after a trip to Berlin. At the time the stage version had just come out on DVD, but getting a copy is difficult: one needs to either visit the GRIPS Theater in Berlin or order a copy directly. As the company doesn’t have the facilities to process credit cards, getting ahold of the disc outside of Germany is troublesome to say the least. Fortunately the 1988 film version has recently been released on mass market DVD after spending over a decade out of print on VHS.
In many ways the film is an easier watch than the stage disc: the movie runs barely 100 minutes (vs. the play’s 180+) which has greatly streamlined the rather messy plot. The film also offers the benefits of specialised casting: while most of the cast were in the original stage version, characters such as the Boy in the Raincoat (played here by Andreas Schmidt, most recently seen in The Counterfeiters) have been recast for age appropriateness whereas the stage DVD cast is full of ageing members about to finish their contracts. The songs also have a poppier and in some places stronger arrangement than on stage (e.g. Hey du.)
That’s about where the benefits end, though. A number of songs (including the haunting 6 Uhr 14 and the angsty Tag ich hasse dich has been replaced with the poppier In jeder Großstadt bin ich zu Haus) have been axed, and the design can only be described as bizarre: the film will spend ten minutes in a realist mode only to throw ticket inspectors to smoke filled tunnels or have policemen dancing for one shot of a song while chasing down a busker while moving normally otherwise. Scenes set outside of a train car or station hearken back to the 40’s with a combination of fake buildings and painted backdrops, and the film’s altered ending does nothing for the sake of clarity. It’s not bad like the RENT movie was, largely due to the continued input of the theatrical creators, but the aesthetic is jarring and may put viewers off the first time through.
The filmed Linie 1 also fails to tackle some of the play’s larger themes, such as urban anonymity: the Girl is given a proper name (Sunny) as is the Boy (Humphrey - three guesses as to why) and even though it’s a minor issue given the wholesale reduction of material, it takes away some of the magic and the grit. I’d need to pull out the stage DVD or the script books to check, but I suspect the play’s extensive use of Berlin dialect has been toned down, though it’s still present.
As far as the DVD itself is concerned, the film is presented in a 1.66 aspect ratio and is enhanced for anamorphic playback. The print has been newly telecined (with 4% PAL speedup) and remastered and the colours are nice and intense with no visible film damage and retains an appropriate amount of film grain. The audio track is straightforward 2.0 stereo encoded in Dolby Digital. As is annoyingly standard for German releases there are no subtitles, either in German for the hard of hearing or alternative languages for foreign viewers.
In terms of extras, there’s a 30 minute making of which is mostly talking head footage of Reinhard Hauff (director) and Eberhard Junkersdorf (producer). There’s some interesting discussion of how they adapted the material and some of the technical constraints (getting a real train car into the studio proved rather difficult), a photo gallery with some music, the original trailer, and direct links to the songs. The original press kit is also included as a rather nifty DVD-ROM extra.
Overall, Linie 1 the movie is a product of its era which hasn’t held up as well twenty years on as its inspiration, but it’s an accessible version of the work and is well worth the price (a scant €10 online - cheaper than the OCR) for those who are curious and is available from your German DVD merchant of choice including amazon.de.
Showing posts with label Linie 1. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Linie 1. Show all posts
Friday, 7 November 2008
Thursday, 3 July 2008
REVIEW: "Linie 1"
Fans of political theatre, children’s theatre, and German theatre are all likely to have heard of Berlin’s GRIPS Theatre. One of the nation’s top companies, the GRIPS perform a staggering 15 plays in repertoire, with routine new additions tackling the issues facing contemporary German youth. However, the company’s most famous plays are those dealing head-on with Berlin history: the political play-cum-cabaret Eine Linke Geschichte (A leftist history), about the Red Army Faction, and their first musical, the 1986 Linie 1 (Line 1).
Linie 1 is a tricky play to review, especially for a foreigner. It is billed (and appropriately so) as a “musical revue” directly below the title, though the published scripts and posters have referred to it as a rock musical and “the Berlin musical.” The first and last terms are the most accurate, as it plays closer to a revue (more below) and requires a great deal of knowledge regarding 1980’s West Berlin to fully appreciate. Even visiting German speakers will have a problem following the dialogue in full, as it is written and performed with an extreme usage of Berlin dialect.
Caveats aside, Linie 1 is perhaps one of the most brilliant shows ever written in terms of capturing a zeitgeist: A well meaning and naive girl from the West German provinces runs away from home, seeking out the rock star she fell in love with, upon finding out she’s carrying his child. Unfortunately for her, Berlin is not the gilded paradise she imagined, and when it’s revealed that her lover falsified his address, she wanders around the city, running into and associating with the equally well meaning dregs of society inhabiting the underground stations while her new friends attempt to reunite her with the man who ran. Then again, she may not get to meet him if the area pimp gets to her first, and who is this strange lad in a trench-coat following her around?
To be honest, though, the plot doesn’t really matter. Linie 1 runs over three hours including interval, and the story is often derailed to explore another facet of society through the outsider’s eyes. It takes almost half an hour to wrap up events after the massive plot twist in the second act, and even that is undermined by requiring significant emotional involvement for a character who appeared in a single scene some two hours earlier. Likewise, re-appearances are foreshadowed but fail to materialise at times, and massive leaps of faith are mandatory to handle the conclusion. The ensemble cast of eleven take on a staggering number of characters, with only the central character maintaining a single identity through the evening, creating the detached wonder-bordering-confusion facing those in unknown territory: as soon as the audience get attached to one of our heroine’s encounters, they alight from the train never to be seen again.
This isn’t to say that most of these sequences aren’t interesting - they are - and Volker Ludwig (the company’s driving force as well as the book and lyrics’ author) intentionally designed the show to be a series of sketches versus a traditional book show. However, the RZ feels that some well placed edits could easily streamline 20+ minutes off the runtime and leave the audience with a more emotionally satisfying work.
Our unnamed protagonist's journey comes backed by Birger Heymann’s score, played 22 years on by show band No Ticket's original members (except for a new sax player). The songs are catchy, and despite being blatantly 80’s maintain a freshness and honesty some two decades later. While responsible for driving almost none of the plot, the music provides the introspective view needed to provide pathos from the recurring characters, from the unnamed girl’s excitement in “6:14 Bahnhoff Zoo” to a busker’s bitter song about the capital, the beautiful at heart Maria’s mournful tune (“You’re pretty, even when you cry”) and number featuring the embittered crowd waiting for a train.
Mathias Fischer-Dieskau’s design offers as much as a small thrust stage can, with some clever effects that can only work in a low budget venue like the GRIPS including the proto-MTV method of placing the band on a scrim fronted platform . Yoshio Yabara’s provides the most recent update to the costumes, which retain their period vintage.
Finally, we have the cast. Being an ensemble company, members of the GRIPS come and go through the years, but many have returned to perform in Linie 1. 2007, however, saw a mass exodus, and a new company were promoted on the website. Kathrin Osterode has the voice and the potential, but doesn’t appear to have quite settled into the role (something difficult given Linie 1 only gets 4-5 performances per month). Laura Leyh is more adjusted on her track, which includes the confidant role of Maria. Jens Mondalski is a playful punk, and hanging on after 22 years, Thomas Ahrens and Dietrich Lehmann remain as two homeless elderly who bicker while providing a poignant reminder of those ignored by Germany’s economic dominance in the 80’s.
While it possesses its share of structural flaws, Linie 1 is a fascinating look at the latter days of divided Berlin, a spirit of the age which has far outlived the circumstances responsible for its creation, and which its creators never expected to be performed as a historical piece. While performances are limited, visitors to Berlin would be well served to seek out this engaging production.
Where: GRIPS Theater, Berlin
When: In repertoire. Check the company website.
Cost: €18 general admission (£15)
Concessions: €10 (£8)
**NOTE** Ticketing at the GRIPS is extremely low tech. Reservations must be phoned in to the box office and claimed up to 24 hours in advance at the theatre. Payments are cash only, and if you will be unable to claim your ticket in advance, email the venue and they’ll hold your place until the day. The BO is open for collections from 10AM-5PM.
------------------------
RZ Unofficial “Worth Paying”: £15. Despite its problems, Linie 1 is a crash course in the Berlin experience with great music from a remarkable company.
RZ Other Notes: That said, because the GRIPS is a company designed for children’s and youth productions, most performances are flooded by school groups who are not always the best behaved, even (especially?) for Germany. The night the RZ went there was plenty of talking, moving around, and open text messaging through the entire show, and he would guess most of the audience were 13-16 years old. Because of the company’s reputation, you do see a fair number of independent adults in attendance as well, though they are certainly in the minority.
Linie 1 is a tricky play to review, especially for a foreigner. It is billed (and appropriately so) as a “musical revue” directly below the title, though the published scripts and posters have referred to it as a rock musical and “the Berlin musical.” The first and last terms are the most accurate, as it plays closer to a revue (more below) and requires a great deal of knowledge regarding 1980’s West Berlin to fully appreciate. Even visiting German speakers will have a problem following the dialogue in full, as it is written and performed with an extreme usage of Berlin dialect.
Caveats aside, Linie 1 is perhaps one of the most brilliant shows ever written in terms of capturing a zeitgeist: A well meaning and naive girl from the West German provinces runs away from home, seeking out the rock star she fell in love with, upon finding out she’s carrying his child. Unfortunately for her, Berlin is not the gilded paradise she imagined, and when it’s revealed that her lover falsified his address, she wanders around the city, running into and associating with the equally well meaning dregs of society inhabiting the underground stations while her new friends attempt to reunite her with the man who ran. Then again, she may not get to meet him if the area pimp gets to her first, and who is this strange lad in a trench-coat following her around?
To be honest, though, the plot doesn’t really matter. Linie 1 runs over three hours including interval, and the story is often derailed to explore another facet of society through the outsider’s eyes. It takes almost half an hour to wrap up events after the massive plot twist in the second act, and even that is undermined by requiring significant emotional involvement for a character who appeared in a single scene some two hours earlier. Likewise, re-appearances are foreshadowed but fail to materialise at times, and massive leaps of faith are mandatory to handle the conclusion. The ensemble cast of eleven take on a staggering number of characters, with only the central character maintaining a single identity through the evening, creating the detached wonder-bordering-confusion facing those in unknown territory: as soon as the audience get attached to one of our heroine’s encounters, they alight from the train never to be seen again.
This isn’t to say that most of these sequences aren’t interesting - they are - and Volker Ludwig (the company’s driving force as well as the book and lyrics’ author) intentionally designed the show to be a series of sketches versus a traditional book show. However, the RZ feels that some well placed edits could easily streamline 20+ minutes off the runtime and leave the audience with a more emotionally satisfying work.
Our unnamed protagonist's journey comes backed by Birger Heymann’s score, played 22 years on by show band No Ticket's original members (except for a new sax player). The songs are catchy, and despite being blatantly 80’s maintain a freshness and honesty some two decades later. While responsible for driving almost none of the plot, the music provides the introspective view needed to provide pathos from the recurring characters, from the unnamed girl’s excitement in “6:14 Bahnhoff Zoo” to a busker’s bitter song about the capital, the beautiful at heart Maria’s mournful tune (“You’re pretty, even when you cry”) and number featuring the embittered crowd waiting for a train.
Mathias Fischer-Dieskau’s design offers as much as a small thrust stage can, with some clever effects that can only work in a low budget venue like the GRIPS including the proto-MTV method of placing the band on a scrim fronted platform . Yoshio Yabara’s provides the most recent update to the costumes, which retain their period vintage.
Finally, we have the cast. Being an ensemble company, members of the GRIPS come and go through the years, but many have returned to perform in Linie 1. 2007, however, saw a mass exodus, and a new company were promoted on the website. Kathrin Osterode has the voice and the potential, but doesn’t appear to have quite settled into the role (something difficult given Linie 1 only gets 4-5 performances per month). Laura Leyh is more adjusted on her track, which includes the confidant role of Maria. Jens Mondalski is a playful punk, and hanging on after 22 years, Thomas Ahrens and Dietrich Lehmann remain as two homeless elderly who bicker while providing a poignant reminder of those ignored by Germany’s economic dominance in the 80’s.
While it possesses its share of structural flaws, Linie 1 is a fascinating look at the latter days of divided Berlin, a spirit of the age which has far outlived the circumstances responsible for its creation, and which its creators never expected to be performed as a historical piece. While performances are limited, visitors to Berlin would be well served to seek out this engaging production.
Where: GRIPS Theater, Berlin
When: In repertoire. Check the company website.
Cost: €18 general admission (£15)
Concessions: €10 (£8)
**NOTE** Ticketing at the GRIPS is extremely low tech. Reservations must be phoned in to the box office and claimed up to 24 hours in advance at the theatre. Payments are cash only, and if you will be unable to claim your ticket in advance, email the venue and they’ll hold your place until the day. The BO is open for collections from 10AM-5PM.
------------------------
RZ Unofficial “Worth Paying”: £15. Despite its problems, Linie 1 is a crash course in the Berlin experience with great music from a remarkable company.
RZ Other Notes: That said, because the GRIPS is a company designed for children’s and youth productions, most performances are flooded by school groups who are not always the best behaved, even (especially?) for Germany. The night the RZ went there was plenty of talking, moving around, and open text messaging through the entire show, and he would guess most of the audience were 13-16 years old. Because of the company’s reputation, you do see a fair number of independent adults in attendance as well, though they are certainly in the minority.
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