Students in UVic’s Performing German Drama class are readying a two-night run of a dark comedy entitled Der Besuchen der alten Dame (roughly translated to The Visitor), performed entirely in German.
And if that sounds like a vast undertaking, it’s because it totally is, according to UVic student Caitlin Burritt, who performs two supporting roles in the play.
“It’s been a very interesting experience, especially since we’re not all native German speakers,” says Burritt, who, along with other English-speaking members of the cast, had to use dialect coaches to master the language for the performance. “The rest of us not only had to figure out our characters, but also exactly what we’re saying and how to pronounce it, so it’s been really unique that way.”
The play, written by German playwright Friedrich Dźrrenmatt, is an absurdist tragic comedy about a wealthy woman who returns to her hometown, which is completely dilapidated and filled with ridiculously poor townsfolk. Soon, everyone is trying to impress the woman in hopes that she will turn the town around financially.
But the story turns dark from there.
“She offers to donate $1,000,000,000 to the town if they murder her ex-boyfriend, who jilted her 45 years prior,” explains Burritt. “So it’s a really weird premise, and the play starts out very humourous and absurd and over-the-top, and then it becomes more serious and heavy-handed as it shifts from comedy to tragedy.”
Now in their third year of performing, the Germanic studies students (under the tutelage of UVic professor Elena Pnevmonidou) are responsible for mounting the production, including sets, costumes, acting, and directing. The performance of Der Besuchen der alten Dame features three student co-directors, as well as several leading actors who were already fluent in German.
“It’s definitely very student-driven,” says Burritt, “which is unique to any other course I’ve taken because our professor is there to help, but she’s very much in the background and encouraging us to take the leading roles in putting this play on.”
As for the entirely German dialect for the production, Burritt says that although the play is meant to be staged in front of primarily German audiences, it’s not impossible to understand for English speakers.
“It is spoken in German, so it’s somewhat difficult to get the idea if you haven’t heard of the story before, but at the same time the way that the play is staged isn’t very subtle, and it’s pretty abrupt,” she says. “Because it’s absurdist, a lot of the humour is really in your face.”
Der Besuchen der alten Dame
8 pm, Friday, December 5 and Saturday, December 6
$5, Merlin’s Sun Home Theatre (1983 Fairfield Road)
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