Space for novices

But construction sites in Berlin can also be completed. The Deutsche Oper succeeds in proving this - albeit by the narrowest of margins. The house's new experimental stage still smells of paint, the toilets are missing mirrors, and what will one day be a solid threshold is still a teetering board at the opening. From Zillestraße, one enters the foyer of the carpentry workshop and climbs the stairs to the high workshop from the thirties. The plans for the remodeling were donated by the architect Stephan Braunfels, and the implementation was paid for by the Senate and the sponsoring association. Now the building has received what Götz Friedrich always dreamed of: a space for discoveries, for ventures, for new talent. This diversification only became possible under the umbrella of the Berlin Opera Foundation, which set up central workshops. This meant that the Deutsche Oper's carpentry workshop lost its traditional purpose - and offered a free space that Dietmar Schwarz and his team are now proud to take possession of. With one subtle caveat: On opening night, the artistic director does not want to give the impression that the Deutsche Oper can afford its second venue. After all, the company is trying to prove to cultural policymakers that the building on Bismarckstrasse is structurally underfunded. So Schwarz points out that in the future, third-party funding will be needed to stage productions in the Tischlerei, in other words, sponsors who want to get involved in new musical theater formats. For the first artistic tour of the space, the Deutsche Oper has chosen a cooperation partner from the independent scene who is also familiar with lean production and profitable networks. The Berlin theater group Nico and the Navigators have been cruising so intensively and cheerfully in the musical theater's waters in recent years that it is now logical for them to moor up in the Tischlerei for the opening. This should also open up new perspectives for the Deutsche Oper ensemble. And so, in her scenic fantasy "Mahlermania," director Nicola Hümpel can draw not only on her proven actors and dancers, but also on a chamber orchestra and singers Katarina Bradic and Simon Pauly. Framed by 16 numbers from songs and symphonies of Gustav Mahler, the production does not want to string more anecdotes of the composer and his unfaithful Alma - although one may not quite recognize anything else: We take apart our Mahler's composer's cottage and turn it into a bungalow in the style of Walter Gropius. Alma is not happy about this either. "Piefiger Preuße," she slurs sullenly after the lover-architect and fills her glass in a basin that is surely meant to symbolize the Grand Canal. Kokoschka builds himself an Alma doll, everyone looks watered. Apples are passed around, but there is no sign of the graham bread that Mahler appreciated just as much. Nevertheless, the two brave singers visibly - and audibly! - which was probably due in no small part to the wonderful Mahler arrangements by director of studies Anne Champert.

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