The Stage

Chit chat - Spirited performance

Published Tuesday 2 February 2010 at 10:45 by Tabard

Meanwhile, in Germany, there have been some strange goings-on in theatre. Frankfurt’s Schauspielhaus faced a complete and utter breakdown of a performance when the actors decided to substitute vodka for water in a production of Moscow to the End of the Line. Predictably, everything went completely haywire, with one performer falling off the stage and another being rushed to hospital to have his stomach pumped.

As the Guardian reported, the show’s director was not amused. “It was seen as a bit of an experiment, sort of along the lines of ‘let’s perform this wonderful text and have a bit of a drink at the same time’ and it went a bit awry,” Oliver Reese is quoted as saying.

“One of the actors in particular clearly drank too much vodka, on an empty stomach. That, in combination with the adrenaline an actor already feels when he’s on stage, caused him to go off the rails. His self-control failed him.

“I told them I didn’t want to see anything like that ever again. It was kindergarten behaviour.”

It also brings to mind the story of Daniel Hoevels from the Hamburg-based Thalia Theatre company, who back in 2008 was in the news after he accidentally stabbed himself in the neck during a performance in Vienna when the blunt stage knife had been mistakenly replaced with a sharp one during a staging of Mary Stuart by Friedrich Schiller.

Tabard can’t help but think that these Germans are all taking the Method just a little too far.