How should the story begin? A curious question at the beginning of a more than six-hour evening at the theatre. Nine young men, all dressed in black, notebook, laptop, novel in hand, first work through this question at the front of the stage ramp. Just a few minutes before “The Legacy” gradually unfolds its full extent. If you look back on the evening one night later, you might as well ask: Where do you start to talk about this overflowing, acclaimed premiere of Matthew Lopez’ two-part stage epic at Munich’s Residenztheater? It’s such a rich evening, precise, balanced, of great truthfulness, also with the courage to lay it on thick. And it’s an evening of actors who carry the audience through the two parts with ease, or rather: sweep them away.
So let’s start with the text. The highly acclaimed play “The Legacy” is set in the gay community in New York in the years 2015 to 2018. The American playwright Lopez accompanies his two protagonists Eric Glass and Toby Darling, two cultured and eloquent thirty-somethings, through the ups and downs of their relationship and other relationships. He contrasts them with the elderly couple Henry and Walter, both of whom lived through the devastating HIV epidemic of the 1980s. In long arcs, Lopez talks about the LGBTQ community, about AIDS, about dying, sadness and truth. He raises the question of where the freedom of today’s generation of homosexuals comes from. Who fought for freedom, for rights, who could do it at all? And are they safe today when politicians like Donald Trump come to power? Lopez assigns an entire scene to his choice as a threatening backdrop for the gay community. Lopez also talks about the AIDS epidemic and the great, hushed up trauma it caused. How does today’s society deal with this legacy? The gay community is crumbling, that’s what Lopez says.
It’s allowed to drip, the evening doesn’t slip on it
The epic is based on motifs from EM Forster’s novel “Howard’s End”, which weaves a beautiful, delicate meta-level into this theatrical text. “The Legacy” premiered in London in 2018, and it can be seen in German for the first time at the Residenztheater. Philipp Stölzl has taken over the direction here. He is equally at home on stage as in film, most recently came his adaptation of the “Schachnovelle” to the cinemas. In the evening you can tell that someone is at work here who is familiar with the film’s timing and pace, with cliffhangers and rapid changes. Stölzl does not shy away from the melodramatic, which often only works quietly or ironically broken on stage. In this “legacy” it’s allowed to drip, the evening after will not slip.
So it starts now with the nine young men who are all looking for a story. On the front stage – chicly framed as a New York brick facade – they try out sentences and gestures until EM Forster himself appears, whom Michael Goldberg puts on as a wise, hearty advisor. He pushes her into the story, which from then on is invented by the collective and commented on from the sidelines. It is played in the middle of the stage, into which the revolving stage moves one naturalistic backdrop after the other – the trendy, reduced living room, the salon with a fireplace, a meter-high Broadway poster, or an emergency room (stage design: Philipp Stölzl, collaboration with Franziska Harm) .
First, Moritz von Treuenfels jumps into the middle of the stage. From now on he is Toby Darling, who has written an autobiographically completely twisted novel, leads it to Broadway success and tramples everything left and right in the process. Tremendous rock draws him, the natural center of every party, as expansive, narcissistic and sarcastic. But to be like that, to pretend in principle, costs Toby strength – Treuenfels mixes this nuance into his character right from the start. In doing so, he gives it a depth that is necessary to keep it interesting for six hours. Thiemo Strutzenberger does the same as Eric Glass. A thoroughly good and gentle person, Eric runs the risk of being thoroughly boring as well. But with Strutzenberger, being good is a kind of prison that his Eric would be only too happy to get out of.
Adam (Vincent zur Linden, left) initiates the break between Toby (Moritz von Treuenfels) and Eric, who can no longer be mended.
(Photo: Sandra Then)
Eric is the center around which everything revolves, ultimately Toby too. Their relationship is flanked by their gay friends, each a type in their own right, subtle, down-to-earth or smart (Patrick Bimazubute, Simon Zagermann, Florian Jahr and Nicola Mastroberardino). Soon the young, handsome Adam enters her life and initiates the break that can no longer be repaired. Vincent zur Linde is this Adam, he is new to the ensemble at the Residenztheater and a discovery in his ability to change. His Adam, who takes on the leading role in Toby’s play, is initially shy and flirtatious, later the egocentric acting star without honesty. Linde also stars as the hustler Leo, a frightened fellow with a tattered soul whom he gives the same authenticity as his Adam.
The strength of the evening lies in this authenticity. Every character exudes something real. Be it the protagonists or the tough businessman Henry (Oliver Stokowski), the many supporting characters by Vincent Glander and Noah Saavedra or the only female role that the great Nicole Heesters with energetic energy conjures up on stage shortly before the end. You watch them all with fascination, captivated as in a series marathon, let yourself be touched by their fates, want to know how things will continue, for a whole six hours.