Theaterbesuch in Ingolstadt

 

 

MBG, 4 o’clock, Dec. 6, 2002, at the parking lots: We, the English class of Mr. Streifinger met to start our trip to a theatre in Ingolstadt. The reason why we went there was the play “Hamlet” by William Shakespeare, which we had given a thorough study in class.
After a description of the way that took us a “little” longer than planned, we finally sat in our cars and drove off.
It took us about 1 1/2 hours to get there. There was only one problem when we arrived, where should we park? The theatre had a covered car park but if we wanted to use it before 6 o’clock the parking tax would have been too expensive for poor students. So, we drove around for at least twenty minutes … One of the cars in our convoy got lost and the girls inside got to know the other parts of Ingolstadt. (We won’t tell any names now ! ) Finally the girls in the car proved that they could read a street map and exactly at 6 o’clock we all met at the parking lots.
We still had a little time left and so we all split up and walked through the Christmas market. Probably every single one of us had something to eat e.g crépes, chestnuts or several other sweets. Very tasty, I swear! Another thing we did there for fun was wearing Santa Claus caps.
Finally it was 7:30 and the play was about to begin so we went back to the theatre, which reminded us a bit of our school…. After fighting our way through the masses of people we found our seats at last. Not all of us sat side by side, some of us in the 3rd row, others in the 4th but this wasn’t so bad.
Then we had a kind of funny experience. All of us were convinced that the play would be in English, because we are an English A-level class and when an A-level class goes to a theatre play then it should normally be in the language you study in school!

So before the play started we talked about the hard understandable Shakespeare English and as a result of this, the couple next to us was in total panic that the play might be in English and even thought about leaving the theatre. They had bought their tickets because they wanted to watch the Shakespeare play in German. Finally Mr Streifinger confirmed us that it WOuLD be in German! Now we were totally confused and a bit disappointed but then after a while we were even relieved about this news.

Then the curtain opened and the play started. The whole class thought that it was pretty good, although Hamlet reminded us of a certain German teacher at our school. There are a few things some of us critizised on: e.g. Ophelia’s exaggerated presentation or Claudius’ hard-headed fashion style. The scenery was quite impressing and imaginative and the play was a very modern production. The mood was depressing, which is typical for Shakespeare‘s dramas and especially for Hamlet. Furthermore the scenery was supported by live music, which was performed by a very extraordinary young long-haired man beside the stage, who impressed us very much. He played several instruments and was also responsible for the light effects and was dressed in a blazer and some trousers… ONLY!
But we’ve got to admit that without the extensive preparation in our English-class, the play would have been very hard to understand. But with all the background knowledge about the message of “Hamlet” I have to say all in all that it was fun and very impressing to go there and I can recommend to everybody to go with Mr. Streifinger on such a theatre trip!

Veronica Eller, Katharina Kübler