There is something indestructible about the story of Brandner Kaspar, who uses cherry spirit and card tricks to wrest 18 additional years of life from Boandlkramer, Death. Since Franz von Kobell brought him to “eternal life” in 1871, he has performed this in a continuous loop on Bavarian stages – just think of the production at the Munich Volkstheater. Recently, only Eberhofer-Franz has had a similarly long life, and in almost a dozen novels and ten film adaptations he also seems to be facing a life in a constant loop.
An unbeatable cross between old and modern folk tales results when Eisi Gulp, the eternally stoned father of the aforementioned Eberhofer-Franz, takes on the role of Boandlkramer, as is now the case in Wolfgang Maria Bauer’s update of the classic. “The Brandner Kaspar 2 – he returns” already ensured sold-out performances at the Luisenburg Festival in Wunsiedel and was also enthusiastically received at the season opener in the comedy in the Bayerischer Hof.
Eisi Gulp is certainly largely responsible for this, as he merges with his role, which has been catapulted into the present, in an ideal manner. The 67-year-old noticeably benefits from the fact that he used to practice modern dance and is still able to contort himself elegantly today, for example when he explains his sexual identity as being both male and female, which means it is somehow diverse.
He can only be convinced of Brandner’s request (embodied with rustic charm by author and director Wolfgang Maria Bauer) with the help of a lot of cherry spirit: After seven years in heaven, he is immensely bored, and because Flori, the husband of his beloved granddaughter Marei , due to financial bottlenecks, plans to kill off a rich industrialist’s widow (wonderfully greedy and crazy: Nicola Norgauer), he sees an urgent need for action down there on earth.
Bauer may be in the lederhosen himself, but he takes the Bavarians, at least twenty percent of them, to task: They probably won’t find any mercy at the final court because of their political views – which the audience acknowledges with spontaneous applause. Well, it’s clear who this means, Brandner continues: Those who didn’t applaud.
There are also ironic swipes when it comes to the church, for example when the abusive priest confesses that he found his way to the Lord through several “female detours”. And a slapstick-hardened Holy Spirit (Paul Kaiser) with very earthly desires guides the attractive widow past the stern “portner” (Christiane Rücker) towards paradise. Although there is a certain tendency towards silliness in the whole thing, that doesn’t detract from the enjoyment of this well-acted piece of modern folk theater.
The Brandner Kaspar 2, until October 15th, comedy at the Bayerischer Hof