Projects

Site-specific theatre about the Columbusbahnhof Bremerhaven

When the big ocean liners were tied up, the Columbusterminal buzzed with intense activity: the mooring crew, customs officers, shipping agents, cooks and taxi drivers were taking care of a smooth processing of the passengers. The documentary theatre group gives access to spaces, that always used to be hidden from plain sight.

With the kind support of: bremenports, Kulturstiftung des Bundes (Theater), Fonds Soziokultur (Soziokultur), Kulturamt Bremerhaven

© Finigan Willem Pictures of the performance

Trailer of the performance

Press reviews

Another floor up, several sceneries reveal themselves in the great hall with the information counters. Ramona Krohn welcomes the audience with a seven-member band to a harbour concert; the food has been «polished off» by the shanty choir. The currency exchange counter is manned; Michaela Hinnenthal displays souvenirs in the kiosk, plays with a Hein Mück doll and a music box: «Muss I den, zum Städtele hinaus». Next-door, in the flower shop, posh Greybeard Richard Gonlag shows us, with the aid of light bulbs and neon tube lights, how he decorated the table flower arrangements.

The ensemble, consisting of professional actors and local players, leads us to the original settings. Rehearsals started with exploration tours of the spacious building; from the boiler room to the kitchen and from passenger processing to the dining room and the harbour pub. Props and materials were gathered during these explorations and used for the staging; everything is real. The scenes, partly with sensational choreography, give each different station an authentic image.

The audience stroll through the workers’ tunnel into the 5,000 square metres waiting hall, are allowed to stride through bathrooms and marvel at what the actors managed to make out of the remains of the processing business; funny figurines, mural reliefs out of wheels and door knobs, towers of refrigerators and round floor mosaics – for instance out of toilet seats, soap dispensers and bathroom mirrors.
Sometimes it works realistic, when the owner of the kiosk displays souvenirs like the Hein Mück doll and buntings with the flag of Germany. And it works artful, when the florist plays with light bulbs and neon tube lights instead of flowers.