November 1918*1989
 
The Theater der Klaenge is an independent group with an extraordinarily highly developed sense for style. They completely lack the sweaty pathos of the other free groups. They imitate each style as perfectly as if they had reinvented it. The "Theater der Klaenge " has let the Agitprop-Theater of the twenties come to life again and enriched it with new technical media and refined sound compositions. Again: wonderfully perfect. Shortly before the end, the news of the assassination of Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg arrives in the midst of an optimistic socialist circle. The mourning that follows then is painfully real. The "Internationale" is now only melancholically hummed. With the last applause, the electroacoustic music takes up the tune and turns it half sad, half cheerful. Involuntarily, one hums along, and many whistle the "Internationale" to themselves as they exit. This way, the style-copy is complete.

Gerhard Preusser
Die Tageszeitung
 
 
To the original pool of spoken, printed, filmed and in present-day time electronically recorded, steps up the imaginatively stylized own invention, often the essence from their own conversations with eyewitnesses, which were led during the preparation of the "November" Production, in Dessau as well. As a direct result of these "on the spot " contacts, the "Dusseldorfers" were successful at creating a handful of portraits of "German Types", in the sort of swollen, grotesque truthfulness of theater and cabaret stages like one would hardly expect to meet in the years after 1989. Strong in effect are also individual scenic metaphors: Dance and departure attempt of the Utopia, that is always being stifled (or Pro Forma spurred on) by the ' long Arm' of the Administration; this whole picture in motion, in bitter contrast to the hopeful words of Stefan Heyms on November 4th '89 at Berliner Alexanderplatz. Or: The gradual dismantling and defilement of a monument to the working man by those that before had stood gloriously by their hero.

Elisabeth Peuker
Mitteldeutsche Zeitung
 
 
Under the direction of Jorg U. Lensing, the ensemble which staged the piece in cooperation with the Bauhaus Dessau latches on to the traditions of the working-man theater of the twenties, without however corrupting them. There is still enough room in the almost three hours for cabaret, grotesque and clownerie, mostly aimed at the ‘89 Revolution. No Revue could be livelier and more colorful: three duty-hours not only for the history courses of the upper schools.

Bernd Bussang
Westdeutsche Zeitung
 
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