Die Dreigroschenoper. The Three Penny Opera

Yesterday I saw Berthold Brecht's play, the Three Penny Opera, live at the Berliner Ensemble. The Berliner Ensemble was Brecht's theater back in the day, so it was cool to see the play in the original German at the original Berthold Brecht theater. The performance was feast for the eyes, a provocative interpretation, and an overall successful performance in terms of entertainment and quality. All of the characters were painted with white faces like clowns. The only colors used in the set, the costumes, and the makeup were black, white, and occasionally red. The blocking was carefully and artistically set such that each moment was a perfect tableau. This is the best best picture of the show that I could find online, but it really does not do the play any justice. I saw a play by the same director, at the same theater house a few weeks ago, called Lulu. The director used many of the same techniques in Lulu as he did in the Brecht piece, but the white faces, lack of color, and strange blocking just did not work as well for Lulu as it did for the Three Penny Opera. The thing about using this unusual theatrical technique is that you expect it to be depicting some kind of deeper meaning. You expect the lack of color to mean that the characters are not true real characters but rather representations of societal norms, this was the case in Brecht but not in Lulu. Lulu is a story completely void of meaning, void of societal critique, and void of intellectual stimulation. That would be fine, if it weren't attempting to be deep through visual ploys. I left Lulu feeling completely frustrated and like I had been tricked, but I left the Three Penny Opera feeling completely satisfied. Here is a short video I found on YouTube of the Three Penny opera to give you a better impression.

My parents came to the play as well. I hope they liked it even though it was entirely in German. Before the play we had dinner on the river at this amazing restaurant right on the river Spree next to the theater. The restaurant was called Brechts and I highly recommend it (especially the Wiener schnitzel!)

I also met some awesome international kids in my Freie Universität course yesterday. They are from France and England. It was good to know that other students were struggling through the German almost as much as I was (though their German is significantly better than mine). The course I am taking is called "Einführung in die Internationale Organizationen" which translates to "Introduction to International Organizations." There about 40 people in the class, it is taught in German, and my professor is awesome. She even brought us candy on the first day of class! I wish professors at Stanford did that. :-)

The German word of the day today is der Flüchtling, which means refugee. It is similar to the verb flüchten which means to escape, flee, take flight. I learned this word in my International Organizations class at the FU.

Everyday I will include at least one picture that I took, since photography has become one of my favorite pastimes in Berlin. This is a picture of my parents on a bridge over the River Spree. In the background you can see the radio tower of East Berlin and Museums Insel.