Himmelsleiter<7em>, which begins with the November Uprising of 1918 and ends during the years of the Cold War, tells of the fate of the generation born around 1900.
Gustav Reiser, Grete Thiemich and Arnolt Brunner (alias Arnolt Bronnen) are the central figures. The play highlights key moments in their lives between 1919 and 1952 using a technique of expressionistic, concise montage: it is famous as a time of emergency, of a quick succession of political and ideological changes of direction in central Europe.
Influenced by the First World War, the characters all sympathise with communism. Intergenerational conflict, internal exile, betrayal, opportunism, spying, personal deprivation, political conviction: the conditions of political loyalty are illuminated in this play in the context of concrete living conditions. Seen from today’s perspective, the expressionist poet Arnolt Bronnen’s flip flopping from communism to national socialism to socialism is more than dubious. Here, mildly de-familiarized in the character Brunner, his biography is the perfect example of how easily human ideology can be corrupted.
With Himmelsleiter, Ulrich Zum has managed to assemble central moments from the history of the 20th century into a vivid pictorial arc and to revive the almost-forgotten story of intellectual communism in Germany.
Ulrich Zaum
Himmelsleiter
5 D, 10 H, Verwandlungsdek
UA: 06.03.2005 · Hans-Otto-Theater Potsdam