Maxim Gorki wrote his play “Night Asylum” at the beginning of the 20th century, and in it he leaves little doubt as to what he thinks of humanity: nothing. In a homeless shelter, almost 20 figures crouch on top of each other, who do not form a community. Everyone only pursues their own small goal, there is greed and violence, envy and a lot of alcohol. hopeless.
Nik Mayr has now staged the play at the Wasserburg Theater, has condensed the staff to four players, whose characters also carry motifs of the ones that are now missing, has created a wonderful place for the four – and suddenly you are no longer in Russia around 1902 , but in the here and now, and in the end there might even be a little sunrise. At least inside.
On the stage there is a lovingly built booth, a kiosk, a drinking hall, a place where people get stuck who don’t know what to do with themselves. There is an innkeeper, Carsten Klemm, who “has lived so little that he tends to imagine he will never die”, a young guy, Andreas Hagl, who would love to do something, but with the best will in the world he doesn’t know what. There is a profoundly self-absorbed philosopher, Hilmar Henjes, whose face reflects everything you haven’t done, every single missed opportunity. And there is Annett Segerer, who revolves around the three figures. There’s a lot of drinking, clever talking too, it’s pretty concrete, you can understand all four in their near-death gloom. In the end, there might be a little happiness between the boy and the girl, you hear a song by Rocko Schamoni – there is always excellent music in Nik Mayr’s productions – and you think, oh, there’s still hope.
It’s all very nice, and it’s not a matter of course that it all exists. Uwe Bertram died five months ago, who had managed the house since 2003 and created poetic big-city theater in the small town of Wasserburg. The theater was Bertram and Bertram was the theatre. The funding went through him, the contracts, he made many productions himself. But: there were also a few theater lovers who had worked with him here for a long time. And they decided, then we’ll just continue. Without him. And they keep going. Full of euphoria. “Nachtasyl” is the second new production after Bertram’s death.
There is now “the ten”. Three of them – Nik Mayr, Annett Segerer, Constanze Dürmeier – share the management among themselves, six are permanent actors on part-time contracts, one helps with business matters. After the hereditary, tax and other bureaucratic interdependencies had been unraveled and the ten had established themselves, the Friends of the Association, the city and the Free State, all those who support the theater, were happy. It goes on!