How do our grandparents and parents shape us? To find out, Carola von Seckendorff has four actors as guests this morning. At the Münster Chamber Theatre "Der Kleine Bühnenboden," they tell stories from their families – impressively, surprisingly, and very personally at the same time. This also includes the story of the director herself, who co-founded the Münster City Ensemble.
Movement alone – that was not enough for her at some point. After school, Carola von Seckendorff trained as a mime and during that time realized that she wanted to express herself not only through movement but also with language. So she began performing on theatre stages, such as the Cologne Theater der Keller, where she also trained as an actress. In the mid-1990s, she became a company member at the Theater Münster, with which she is still closely connected today.
Today, Carola von Seckendorff mainly implements independent projects. On one hand, she enjoys working in a collective and in intensive exchange with a team, on the other hand, she immerses herself in months of research work. Together with five actresses, she has developed the piece "MutterHabenSein," in which the life lines of female biographies were retraced. The basis of the research was intense and very personal interviews with the actresses, focusing on their family histories. The piece was not performed on the very large stage, but in pubs.
In one of her most recent productions titled "Vattertach – a biographical men's gathering", Carola von Seckendorff collaborated with four actors. Involved were Ulrich Bärenfänger, Konrad Haller, Thorsten Hölters, and Stefan Naszay. With a comprehensive questionnaire, she tried to find out which patterns repeat within families over the last three generations. What influence do the experiences of the grandparents have on the grandchildren? Which behavioral patterns of the parents can children not shed, even if they have suffered from them? During our visit in Münster, Carola von Seckendorff and the ensemble provided us with an insight into the research process and answered some of the questions. Konrad Haller grew up in a large family and has four siblings. When he looks at photos and videos from his childhood today, everything seems both close and foreign to him at the same time.
Carola von Seckendorff has taken up the topic from the realization that despite all the passion for theater, family always comes first. "If something happens to my children or my husband, then I don't care about theater. And about everything else. Then I know where I need to be." That's why she is working on family stories in her current projects and examining the origin of this strong bond. The effects of war experiences and societal influences on our present-day interactions also concern Stefan Naszay, whose grandfather was in the Wehrmacht.
Carola von Seckendorff describes the speechlessness of the parents and grandparents, the inability to articulate the German war events and to process the experiences with the family. "We cannot cut ourselves off from our past," she says and wants to encourage a cross-generational dialogue with the piece. Her grandmother was a lay judge in the Auschwitz trial; the lack of engagement with German history made her mother politically active. Ulrich Bärenfänger was adopted and grew up in a Christian-influenced family. His father's political views changed significantly during the 20th century.
The family stories of the four protagonists are very different, but the time of National Socialism and its effects connect them. The fathers of Stefan Naszay, Konrad Haller, Ulrich Bärenfänger, and Thorsten Hölters have already passed away. Thus, the questions also explore the handling of the premature death of a father figure.
From the experiences of the four protagonists, a piece emerged that was performed, among other places, in the urban space. Carola von Seckendorff supplemented the research with impressions she gained during various improvisations with the actors. The four men had just a few minutes for their improvisations, with themes provided by the director. When the actors stand on stage, which allows for a very direct approach due to its spatial condition, and recount memories of the deceased father, the stage character and private individual blur. The actors then make themselves so vulnerable through their openness and touch so deeply, as is rarely seen on other stages.
