It’s a Monday afternoon. Nik Mayr stands on a ladder and raises both arms above his head. Next to him, Annett Segerer places a lamp on the countertop by the washbasin. With firm, quick turning movements, Mayr is fiddling around on the ceiling above his head, while Segerer is holding the ladder and looking up at Mayr’s hands. “Ah, now it’s finally working,” says Mayr. The light that now pushes its way out of the women’s toilet on the ground floor into the foyer of the Wasserburg Theater shines a little brighter than before. “The halogen lamps kept breaking down,” Mayr says a little later. “That was really annoying, so we’ve all swapped them for LEDs.”
The current season at the Wasserburg Theater is a special one – and not just because there are new lights in the women’s toilet. It is also the season in which the theater celebrates its 20th anniversary, and from April 26th, for the first time since the corona pandemic, will host the “Wasserburger Theatertage” festival for twelve days, for the 16th time.
Uwe Bertram has been in charge of the theater almost from the start – for more than 19 years. Since then he has directed 50 productions.
(Photo: Christian Endt)
Theater director Uwe Bertram has been there almost from the start. He has directed 50 productions in the almost 20 years that he has been at the house – a poster on the stairs in the foyer lists them all. Above it dangles a hallmark of the house that is a talking point for anyone visiting for the first time: the cloakroom. Before the events begin, the bar hangs low enough for guests to hang up their jackets and coats. During events, the cloakroom moves up to the ceiling at the push of a button. How convenient. Only not for those who want to run away in the middle of a performance. But that has probably never happened in 20 years – why should it, when every production is a blessing for theater lovers?
A long corridor with posters of past productions leads to Uwe Bertram’s office.
(Photo: Christian Endt)
Bertram is sitting at his desk on the first floor, to which a long hallway leads, lined left and right with posters from past productions. Large wooden table in the middle, on it an elegant ashtray and a slim laptop, surrounded by books, folders, photographs from earlier plays and a liquor collection.
“Actually, I’m an actor,” says Bertram. Born in Magdeburg, he studied acting, after which he worked for six years in the ensemble at the Volkstheater in Rostock and from 1996 on, among others, at the Residenztheater in Munich. He also gained television experience, about 22 years ago in a crime scene episode. But since he has been in charge of the Wasserburg Theater, he has played in only four productions at the house. how come
Uwe Bertram has been running the Wasserburg Theater for almost as long as it has existed – a little over 19 years.
(Photo: Christian Endt)
“I always find it weird to play at home,” he says. “There I stand in the middle of my own ensemble – no, it’s just funny.” Most recently he played in the play “Pension Schöller”, that was in 2019. Nik Mayr directed it and just screwed on LEDs in the women’s toilet. “I think it’s nonsensical to stage a play in the theater and be an actor in it at the same time,” says Bertram. “That seems vain.” In addition, you always know how to do it right, as long as you’re not in the middle of it yourself – the distance to the ensemble on stage, the external perspective that a director takes on the work, they are necessary for a successful production.
25 percent occupancy and minimum distances meant 21 seats in the stalls for the Wasserburg Theater.
(Photo: Christian Endt)
Nevertheless, there was no successful staging last winter. Because there was no staging at all, thanks to Corona. Actually, Bertram should have opened with 25 percent occupancy and common hygiene measures. But even with 50 percent occupancy and minimum distances, only 42 seats remained in the parquet. “We are dependent on ticket sales because we are a private theatre,” explains Bertram. With production costs of 2500 euros per evening for a larger production with many participants on the stage, it accordingly needs a little more than 21 paying guests at 25 percent occupancy in order not to be in the red.
Before Corona, the team planned a season in advance. There was a retreat in Austria, being away for a few days, discussing and advising together on which topics and suitable pieces we wanted to focus on this year. Corona has no longer made this possible.
“The Diary of Anne Frank” with Annett Segerer, directed by Mario Eick, was one of the first plays to be seen in the theater again after the Corona break.
(Photo: Christian Flamm/oh)
During the break, the ensemble has kept a supply of pieces so that they can play in front of an audience again at any time. In February the time had come. Actually, the two-person play “Sunshine” by William Mastrosimone with Regina Alma Semmler and Hilmar Henjes should have celebrated its premiere. “But we’re already living through the next madness,” says Bertram. “We didn’t see ourselves able to do a light comedy like Sunshine given the terrible war in Ukraine.” The premiere is now scheduled for autumn, instead “The Diary of Anne Frank” from the previous season with Annett Segerer was shown. And the final preparations are currently underway for the Wasserburg Theater Days, which begin on April 26th. A different selected Bavarian private theater will be guest with a production every evening until May 7th.
“Big city theater is bullshit,” says Uwe Bertram.
(Photo: Christian Endt)
It’s small theaters that take part. “Big city theater is bullshit,” says Bertram. By that he means the alleged polarity between big city and provincial theater, such as the Wasserburger Haus is one. Big city equals intellectual and serious. Province equally entertaining and stupid track. But it doesn’t have to be like that, says Bertram.
The theater also regularly organizes readings, such as the monthly “BetreutesTrinken” series under the direction of Nik Mayr with changing guests such as Annett Segerer.
(Photo: Christian Flamm/oh)
Wasserburg makes sustainable theatre, brings current topics and diversity to the stage – drama, also for children and young people, dance and music theatre. Theater is not interpreted here as a static art form: there is also a live radio play like in 2018 with “13 ½ life of Captain Bluebear” or readings like the monthly “Cared for Drinking” series.
Fundamental decisions are more important than which piece is staged in detail – theater should not be a way of gratifying vanity, says Bertram. Theater must dare. Not just in the big city. “You don’t have to fatalistically submit to the stereotype of a provincial theater,” says Bertram.
The Wasserburger Theater has never done that. That has a lot to do with Bertram’s style. But an equally large part is due to the solid team around him: Regina Alma Semmler, Annett Segerer, Constanze Dürmeier and Nik Mayr. They have been working on the house for a number of years – Segerer has been there the longest, since 2003, and Dürmeier the shortest, since 2009.
“If you’ve known each other for so long, you often know what the other person means even before a sentence is finished,” says Semmler. You can tell. A theater family through and through. At the most recent premiere before the Corona break in October, everyone was there – although only Mayr, Segerer and Dürmeier were involved in the piece from this team of five. Afterwards we chatted and drank, laughed and celebrated. Together.
Many of the stage designs are by Annett Segerer, like that for “Little Red Riding Hood … or something like that”.
(Photo: Christian Endt)
Segerer has been in charge of the children’s and youth theater for three years, she acts, directs and is in many cases responsible for costumes and stage sets. Semmler not only plays, but also takes care of dance, public relations and administration. Dürmeier is Bertram’s “home and farm assistant”, as she says herself: she is often the assistant director of the plays. She co-writes theatrical texts, does the cash register and bookkeeping. Nik Mayr acts, directs, directs the “BetreutesTrinke” reading series – and is the man for the technology. Even when it comes to LED lights in the women’s toilet.