In the beginning there was curiosity. In 1991, a dozen theater studies students at Munich’s LMU registered for a colloquium held by the young New Zealand lecturer Christopher Balme – today director of the Institute for Theater Studies. The theme: improvisational theatre. This quickly became an awakening experience for the students: “It immediately gave us a lot of new impulses. We were a group of people who hadn’t found their way into the acting profession. You could also say: a bunch of losers,” remembers Andreas Wolf . Now a start was found and there was so much energy that Wolf quickly founded an ensemble with Karin Krug (then still Brandstetter) and other enthusiasts of the seminar. In February 1992 the “Fastfood Theater”, as they called themselves, had its first performance at the LMU. And contrary to what many thought, they came to stay: the troupe is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year.
Opportunity to honor a pioneering act. In 1992, improv theater was still almost unknown in Germany. Only the Bonn Springmaus has already toured the country, founded in 1983 by Canadian Bill Mockridge, who then became famous as “Erich Schiller” in “Lindenstraße”. It was no coincidence that a Canadian led the way. As in the case of Cirque Nouveau, Canada was also the country from which the worldwide trend emanated in the case of improv. The British dramaturge Keith Johnstone, who had moved there, incorporated improvisation exercises into his acting classes in the early 1970s, developed his own form from them and co-founded the Loose Moose Theater Company in Calgary in 1977. In “Theatersport” teams of actors competed to invent the better scene at the urging of the audience.
A high-wire act with the risk of failure
The Munich audience was immediately fascinated by the fact that spontaneous play was no longer just an aid to theatrical design, but rather, like a high-wire act with the risk of failure, was the focus of the performance, and that it was also interactive. The “Monday Show” (today the impromptu mix of scenes is called “Best of Life”) of the Fastfood Theater was quickly well attended, first in the Heppel & Ettlich, later in the Theater am Oberanger, in the backyard theater and in the hurdy-gurdy, for many years now in the slaughterhouse. And the primal cell of Munich improv theater quickly found imitators. Top-class artists like the “Tatwort Theater”, which came together in 1994, the city’s second successful traditional troupe, or the fast-food spin-off “Isar 148”. Specialists such as the German-Turkish group “Impro a la turka” or the opera-improv ensemble “La Triviata”. As did lay groups and those that came and went. The scene is colorful today.
Of course, the fast food theater was and is the pioneer. With always first-class cast ensembles over the years around the last founding members Wolf and Krug as fixed stars – currently, for example, Monika Eßer-Stahl, Robert Lansing or the laughing and shooting ensemble member Christl Sittenauer as well as grandiose musicians like Michael Gumpinger and Michael Armann are there. And last but not least because of Andreas Wolf, who not only wrote the first German master’s thesis on improv theater in 1994, but is still on the lookout for new paths to this day. And who still remembered something. In 1993, when they had only just established themselves, Fastfood took part in the first German “Theatersports Championship”, from which they derived the “Improcup”, which quickly became a cult. In 1996 the 1st International Improv Festival was held in the Muffathalle – Keith Johnstone was the guest of honor at the time.
There are now also “business theaters” for managers, companies and banks
And as early as 1994, the first German improvisation school was founded, which since then has not only taught improvisation techniques for the stage, but also as an art of living. Like the theater itself, it has become increasingly professional: Since the step to GbR in 2007, the courses have developed into a lucrative branch that is necessary for survival. Beginners and advanced, children and seniors, everyone is taught. Including “business theatre” for managers, companies or banks, for further training of a different kind in terms of team competence and soft skills. In a special course at the technical college, Wolf teaches financial accountants “how to present figures and developments in a way that the superiors understand.”
But above all, Wolf is constantly thinking about the form of improv theater itself. He invented a number of formats, from the Bavarian folk impro in traditional costume and lederhosen to a project with Sinti and Roma children and his own show for BMW Welt to the series “Phobing”, in which a narrative arc was drawn from a threat. When Corona made regular performances impossible, the online improv theater “The Art of the Hour” was launchedhttps://www.sueddeutsche.de/muenchen/.”It actually worked just as well as it did on stage with spectators,” says Krug. Of course, Wolf also came up with something for the 30-year-old. “Rendezvous” is the name of the anniversary series in the slaughterhouse, which they understand as an “invitation to meet and meet again”. “We meet with our past, so also with players from the early days.” They already have the successful premiere under the title “Rendezvous with stories” behind them, on March 11th “Rendezvous with the stars” with Jim Libby as a guest, on Saturday, April 2nd “Rendezvous with the origin” with Susi Brantl , Gabi Heller, Matthias Brandebusemeyer and Norbert Bürger as guests. In May there are the last two rendezvous, namely “with the future” and “with the cake”.
Fastfood Theater: “Rendezvous mit den Sternen”, Friday, March 11th, “Best of Life”, Monday, March 21st, 8 p.m., Schlachthof, Zenettistraße 9, Telephone 72018264, www.im-schlachthof.de