Heute weder Hamlet

Heute weder Hamlet (English: "Today neither Hamlet") is a one-person play by German playwright Rainer Lewandowski (1950- ) [1].

Subject

This is an eccentric look at what happens behind the theatre curtain, as told by one of the theatre’s forgotten characters, the curtain puller. Ingo Sassmann is a frustrated actor-turned-curtain puller. Finding himself unexpectedly forestage when a performance of Hamlet is cancelled, the limelight proves irresistible as he reveals to his captive audience the world beyond the curtain, and shares with them some reminiscences of parts played and dreams dashed.

The author won a playwright’s award for the production in 1988.

Translations and adaptations

Translated into English under the title Tonight Neither Hamlet.

Performance history in South Africa

1998: The English translation, Tonight Neither Hamlet was staged at the KKNK, directed by Peter Kleinschmidt, with Mees Xteen.

2012: The English translation Tonight Neither Hamlet was staged at the Kalk Bay Theatre in Cape Town, directed by Christopher Weare, with Adrian Galley. This production was also staged at the Grahamstown Festival 2012. It returned to the Kalk Bay Theatre in 2013.