“Time is running out, it’s time for the Kurt Meisel Prize again,” sings actor Lukas Rüppel on the stage of the Residenztheater on Sunday morning. This line of text from the musical opening number for the award ceremony provides the following speakers with several templates. Some take it literally, after all it was hot at the weekend. Others transfer the hot time to the urgent now. Now maintain the level, now keep the workforce together, now maintain the building fabric. Not to be forgotten: the real reason why the matinee was invited to the “Resi”: Robert Dölle was awarded the Kurt Meisel Prize, his ensemble colleagues Vincent zur Linden and Johannes Nussbaum each received a sponsorship award.
The Kurt Meisel Prize, endowed with 5,000 euros, and the sponsorship prizes are audience prizes from the Association of Friends of the Residence Theater, which are awarded annually by the association’s members and the Resi audience. That makes this award a “deeply democratic event”, as the Bavarian Minister of State for Science and Art Markus Blume (CSU) remarked in his speech. Previous winners included Thomas Loibl, Juliane Köhler and most recently Charlotte Schwab.
Artistic Director Andreas Beck welcomed around 400 friends of the Residenztheater to the award ceremony. When he was still a dramaturge at the house, it was a rather “dull” event compared to today. Can you say that what follows is a mixture of music, comedy and award show. Moderation and music are the glue that holds the program items together.
Before the actual award ceremony, Andreas Beck sums up the past season. She was strong. He is less concerned with the question of how to bring the audience back after the pandemic and more with how he can keep his team strong in view of the current shortage of skilled workers. The ground-breaking ceremony for the new rehearsal and workshop center a few weeks ago came at just the right time.
Minister Blume received the signal with the fence post. Just for fun, he asked the artificial intelligence chat GPT what the association of friends of the Residenztheater might want for the 47th anniversary. And even the machine asked for financial support. Accordingly, Blume pledged to get the long overdue renovation of the theater off the ground “soon”.
Dölle’s ensemble colleague Vincent zur Linden was awarded a prize.
(Photo: Stephan Rumpf)
After the previous speakers exchanged political blows, Bernd Sucher gave the eulogy for Vincent zur Linden. He doesn’t want to use the worn-out word “changeability” – but then he does – and he doesn’t compare van Linden to his colleagues, but then he does. He experienced the 29-year-old actor in his roles as a daydreamer who touches when he doesn’t want to touch. The daydreamer is also heard in van Linden’s acceptance speech. He stands at attention in a buttoned white shirt like at morning roll call, but his words came to him very nonchalantly that same morning in bed. The audience is blown away.
The young Austrian Johannes Nussbaum has to wipe the tears from his face, on stage he is overwhelmed. He also received an award.
(Photo: Stephan Rumpf)
The laudatory speech by dramaturg Ewald Palmetshofer for Johannes Nussbaum is touching, not because he is laying it on thick, but because you can tell he appreciates Nussbaum. The young Austrian has been a member of the ensemble at the Residenztheater since the 2019/20 season. Palmetshofer describes his art as open. Nussbaum takes his characters seriously and gives the text time. “To you, to embody means to bring to mind.” Nussbaum has to wipe the tears from his face in the first row, on stage he is overwhelmed.
For award winner Robert Dölle, Munich has come full circle
Robert Dölle is no different when he accepts the Kurt Meisel Prize on stage. Of course, he has witnessed the awarding of this prize several times, but as a prizewinner one is even more nervous, he says afterwards in the SZ interview. “On a day like this you go through the stations again.” For example, he remembers his audition at the Otto Falckenberg School. This award has now come full circle for him, he feels he has arrived in Munich. After engagements in Cologne and his native city of Frankfurt, the 51-year-old returned to Munich for the 2019/20 season.
In-house director Nora Schlocker notes in her laudation for Dölle that, as a seasoned actor, he has retained his curiosity and dedication. Together they worked on the piece “Darkness”, which started as a zoom performance during the pandemic and then made the leap to the Resi stage. It didn’t change anything about Dölle’s performance whether 15 spectators were watching via zoom or a full auditorium. Finally, Schlocker reveals that she and Dölle will continue their fruitful collaboration in the fall with another monologue piece. Dolle is visibly touched.