Theater Hagen
Hagen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Regierungsbezirk Arnsberg, Germany

o, this Anatevka, situated somewhere in the Ukrainian no man's land, was never beautiful. Poverty, gossip and gossip characterize life, and the coexistence of the Jewish community with the Christian-Russian community in 1905 works more poorly than well. At best they avoid each other, at worst they bully each other. And what is held up as "tradition" cements the hierarchies. It's not a folkloric idyll, but a run-down shtetl, a small town district - Tevje, the main character, is a milkman and not a farmer. Director Thomas Weber-Schallauer points this out in the program booklet, and the unadorned stage with faceless house facades that seem to overwhelm life (stage design: Alfred Peter) underlines that although the rapid change between indoor and outdoor spaces sometimes looks quite improvised. The clichés of Jewish coexistence shouldn't be used excessively, whereby the costumes (Yvonne Forster) are quite traditional - and the choreography (Ricardo De Nigris), who tries very hard anyway, can't think of much else. But all in all, it manages very well to keep the balance between a world that never heals but is nevertheless secure and the reality of expulsion and homelessness in which the play ends.