On Friday evening we had a lovely night out at the theater to see the Merchant of Venice in German, by the Bremer Shakespeare Company. When I booked this at the beginning of March, I was in two minds as to whether I should book A Midsummer Night's Dream, because I already know the story so I should be able to follow even if I don't understand the German, or The Merchant of Venice which I have never read or seen. In the end I'm glad we went to see the latter as I did follow the story and even better, I picked up phrases I have heard many times and never knew that they came from this play. It's amazing the impact Shakespeare had on our language.
You can see a trailer and pictures from the play here.
The theater itself was a little strange. First of all it is behind a restaurant which we went into at first thinking it was the theater. The waiters acted all surprised but they must get it all the time! Anyway, we found it in the end. It was kind of a rough and ready theater. It's very old. It was built as a theater in the forties and then became a cinema and is now a theater again. The seating area, as in most theaters, was not very comfortable for a two hour show but there was more leg room than in other theaters I have visited. The company is moving later in the year though to a new venue in Neustadt so I hope they do something productive with this theater. It really needed some work.
When show started, I thought immediately that I was going to hate it as it was a modern take and they used video and lighting effects but actually in the end it wasn't too much and it helped me with the story more than it hindered it. I'd definitely like to see more of the Company's work but next on our list is the Crime Theater in Bremen. I'll be checking that out for April...
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