In the best scene of this more than three-hour performance, Pope Leo X is cycled in with an electric vehicle that looks like a half-open egg, the eco-friendly version of the Popemobile, so to speak. The Pope is a Pope, Sunnyi Melles plays him / her, and if there ever was an ideal cast for a dignitary who has been lost in the world, then it is she. With all the insanity inherent in her, Sunnyi Melles plays this pope who has little idea of being a pope and prefers to take care of Hanno. Hanno is an elephant, Leo got it from the Portuguese king. Leo would like to see Hanno as his successor, he knows as much about the Bible as he does himself, namely none, he has traveled around the world, and besides, people are happy when they see him. If you see Leo, don’t be happy. Unfortunately, you only get to see Hanno’s trunk when he peeks out of a golden container.
The Nibelungen Festival in Worms show no Nibelungen play this year, but “Luther”, written by the Swiss author Lukas Bärfuss, because in 1521, exactly 500 years ago, Martin Luther declared at the Reichstag in Worms that he would not be revoked, that he could not do otherwise And besides, the papal theologians should first prove to him that he was wrong. They couldn’t, and the Reformation took its course.
The Nibelungen Festival began in 2002 with a rewriting of the saga by Moritz Rinke, then Hebbel followed in the original, Dieter Wedel drove around and flaunted film and TV stars until it became too much for the people of Worms. In 2015, under director Nico Hofmann, further Nibelungen variants were commissioned from Albert Ostermaier, Thomas Melle or Feridun Zaimoglu and Günter Senkel. Worms became a premiere festival, the performances were both a spectacle and a discourse. And now “Luther”. In front of around 700 spectators, half of the possible, there would be no Corona.
As bright as the colors of this history painting are, it remains a pure surface
Lukas Bärfuss touches on theological questions in his text and drafts a historically documented (elephant!), Bizarre panopticon of the time, populated with foolish figures. Without Luther, he is the absent reference figure. At its core, it is about the indulgence trade, a papal business model. You buy a letter of indulgence for a few guilders and believe yourself to be immune to purgatory. Luther railed against this and also questioned the effectiveness of such an indulgence.
Even while reading it, one is amazed at the ping-pong of brilliantly sharp and funny scenes, which are confronted by those of a remarkable clumsiness. And there are many scenes. The director Ildikó Gáspár courageously accepts the redundant text offer and first of all establishes all the characters with a slightly ludicrous booth magic. Joachim, the Elector of Brandenburg (Jan Thümer), marries Elisabeth, Princess of Denmark (Julischka Eichel); she will become one of the first Protestant princesses; he mutates into a brutal, sexually errant marriage despot. Robber barons and idiots also appear, Joachim’s valet consists of a twosome of funny playmates in overalls, enlarges the live video of the performers and Flora Lili Matisz often makes cool music live.
You like to watch it for a while, but at the moment when you think that the madness should really take off, the hustle and bustle runs out of breath and the performance just drags itself from hole to hole for another two hours. Only two actresses can maintain an interest in their characters, the papal Melles and Barbara Colceriu. In her first engagement at Theater Basel, she is fabulously lively, radiant and clever and plays Friedrich, Elector of Saxony, friend of Luther, also because the sale of indulgences would ruin his Wittenberg relic business. Nobody else is interested here. The goal is clear, everywhere money, power, greed, everyone borrows something from the Fugger, the election of the emperor is a big bribe on roller skates. As bright as the colors of this history painting are, it remains a pure surface.