The Rusty Venus
World premiere at the Krakow People's Theatre (Teatr Ludowy Krakow) April 2016
Great success at the Teatr Ludowy Krakow and the Kamienica Theatre Warsaw as well as in Rostock (DE Theater 602 Rostock)
Characters
WALTHER: Manufacturer, around seventy
RENATE: his wife, 56
ROLF: A neighbor, around sixty
ACTION
A successful entrepreneur has returned to his cozy home, where until now only his wife ruled, and is now trying to make up for many things that were missed between them due to his focus on his success – including in their marital bed.
That evening he decided to breathe new life into the communal camp and, as a precaution, swallowed a dose of Viagra on the advice of his neighbor and friend.
After some arduous defensive battles on their part, and just as they both want to fall into a frustrated sleep, the new alarm system goes off and a true hellish ride through the past and present of their marriage begins.
In the end, shots are fired, no one bleeds – but everyone is injured.
REVIEWS
Intelligent comedies not only make us laugh, but also make us reflect.
The play by Fred Apke, a German author well-known and popular in Poland, whose plays entertain us with almost "perverse" dialogues and situations, achieves precisely that.
The title itself suggests that a lot of grotesquely comical depths can open up between an older man and his much younger wife - when the older partner wants to revive the actually "withered" relationship, also through chemistry.
Laughter helps us to endure this painful story and perhaps also cleanses and redeems us a little from our own failure.
The bittersweet "Via-Gra" offers everything you would expect from a good comedy: great writing, fast pace and good, intense acting.
I highly recommend it!
(Włodzimierz Neubart, chochlik kulturalny)
Some viewers may have noticed parallels to their own married life and may now be more relaxed about their own failure.
The play by German author Fred Apke manages not only to make the audience laugh, but also to encourage them to reflect on their own lives.
True to Walter Wildemuth's motto: "It could have been worse, so I'm doing well!"
Stage 602's performance was an impressive and certainly remarkable premiere.
(Anika Naumann, SZ DE)
