Theater in der List shows “Waltz to Nowhere”
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Dance in the hail of bombs: Theater in der List shows “Waltz to Nowhere”
Hanover.They are searching for the future in the subway tunnels: Alexander has lost his granddaughter and the pregnant Lotta has lost hope. In his play “Walzer ins Nirgendwo”, which can now be seen in the theater in the list, the German-Italian author Antonio Riccò lets the two meet in a bombshell night.
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Riccò has personal connections to Kyiv and Odessa. Shocked by the news of the Russian attack, he began writing the play in March and directing it with Willi Schlueter, who played Alexander. It was also a kind of personal “therapy”, says the author.
Anti-war songs in the subway
Despite this, the play does not play Ukraine. But “somewhere in the middle of nowhere,” says Riccò, “because we believe that only Ukrainian authors, directors and actors can tell about the war in Ukraine.” Whereby the parallels – especially to the widespread images from the subway stations are evident in Kyiv.
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Lotta and Alexander mistrust each other at first. But when they sing “Bella Ciao” together, the ice begins to melt. There are several of these anti-war songs in the production: Bettina Wegner’s “Sind so kleine Hände” (“Sind so little hands”), Georg Danzer’s “Die Freiheit”. Marie-Madeleine Krause as Lotta sings with a lot of voice and pathos.
The pacifist as traitor
“It’s a life-affirming song in the moment,” says Riccò, “and an anti-war response that really comes from the soul. Not with weapons, with beautiful music and emotions.” In the end, Lotta tells Alexander that her boyfriend and her father are at war – when they come back, she wants to waltz with him and her father at the wedding. So long she dances with Alexander.
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The music is not a solution in “Walzer ins Nirgendwo” – at most a short break. There are no solutions. Only dead, injured and those who end up having to live with themselves in the post-war world. Alexander, the pacifist, feels like a traitor, whether he goes to war himself or sticks to his pacifism. Lotta doesn’t want to expose her child to the outside world.
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“It will be a long time before we can clear the rubble from our souls,” Alexander once said. The search for the future in the subway tunnels: It remains unsuccessful. But at least you can dance. As long as you can.
The information: The next performances are on Friday, May 27 and June 10, at 8 p.m. in the Theater in der List, Spichernstrasse 13. Admission is free, but donations to the Ukrainian Association of Lower Saxony are requested.
By Jan Fischer