Landestheater Niederbayern: Camera closed instead of curtain
Landshut In place of the new posters of the current productions, there are signs for the vaccination center and test stations on the fences around the theater tent. There hadn’t been any public theatrics on stage for a long time, but the work was done.
Through his media library, Landestheater Niederbayern has found a way to continue to convey a touch of theater to the audience and fulfill his educational mission.
Therefore, Landestheater has been making its productions available to viewers in digital form for free since December. The pieces are rehearsed and performed as if there were spectators in the hall. With the difference that it was filmed. About 23,000 people have gained access to the media library since the online show began. “Even someone from New Zealand saw a play,” says Alexa Heilmeier, theater press and public relations officer.
The play was produced as a “real” movie.
The theater team has already managed to gain initial filmmaking experience. Now they go further: the Landestheater’s drama division produces a play as a “real” movie. So the show is not only filmed, but filmed, cut and edited in the best film style, in order to create a work almost as long as a feature film at the end.
The theater uses the material Oscar Maria Graves: the play “The Marriage of Mr. Bollweiser”. In it, station manager Xaver Bolwieser (Joachim Vollrath) just wants to enjoy his petty bourgeois life with his wife Hani (Katarina Elizabeth Cram). But she deceives him, and the confusion takes its course until Bullwisser is finally caught up in the fragments of his existence. The piece was introduced by Wolfgang Chief Director Maria Bauer and Art Director Stefan Tilsch.
Filming presents new challenges for theater, as it is not, in fact, the daily bread that dramatists think of in terms of cinematic scenes. “It’s exciting, for example, that it was not shot in chronological order,” explains playwright Peter Oberdorf. Therefore, scenes from the end of the film are not necessarily shot at the end of filming. “Actors always have to find their way back to the current state of the role,” says Oberndorf.
Additionally, work on a play usually begins in the rehearsal phase. There are samples for reading, and all participants find their way to the piece in the weeks leading up to the show. This also varies with the movie. Oberdorf: “After a brief introduction, we started filming from day one.”
“We’d love to play in front of the crowd again.”
Will the theater now turn into pure movie production? “There is no danger there,” says Alexa Hellmayr. “The current possibilities are limited and we are trying to get the best results. But we also want to play in front of the crowd again.”
The final film should also be used for the actual performance – classic.
Meanwhile, the shooting of “Bolwieser” was completed. The movie should start – as of now – online by early May at the latest. Because after that the theater will start practicing for the castle festival as planned. “We just hope we can at least stage shows abroad on a small scale,” says Hellmayr. But this is still – like everything at the moment – uncertain. “