Rena Dumont is difficult to tame. In 1986 she fled from Czechoslovakia to Germany with her mother and later wrote the enchanting novel “Paradise Seekers” about it. She played in theater at various theaters, was in the ensemble of the Munich Kammerspiele for a few years, filmed, in front of and behind the camera, curated exhibitions, and wrote another novel, the panorama of the century “The Mill”. And now she’s directing for the first time: her own play “Desire” premieres on September 20th at Leo 17.
A completely natural consequence. Dumont taught acting at the Waldorf School in Munich, as much as he could. Then they told young people that they wanted to play a lot more. Dumont founded the “Free Theater Company”, as well as its preliminary drama club, and since she also prepares young people for applications to drama schools, it became clear at some point that she had to do real theater with young people: “The students are eager to to do theater.” Trying once a week is no longer enough, a project was needed.
She put together “Desire” herself. The basis is many monologues that she had already worked on with young people, heavy classics, Max Frisch or Goethe’s Stella, “Romeo and Juliet” of course, “Maria Stuart” or “Salome”. She noticed that everyone wanted these characters and that it usually ended badly. So she invented a group of 15 cleaning women – “I love cleaning women and the East” – and a text into which she could incorporate the monologues. “My trash collides with the classics.” For the sake of simplicity, she made everything herself; the costumes, the stage and the props come from the everyday lives of those involved, nothing was bought, everything was recycled.
“Desire”, Leo 17, September 20th, 7 p.m., September 21st, 11 a.m. and 7 p.m., Leopoldstraße 17, reservations at [email protected]