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Are you new in the town? Curious eyes, wiggling index fingers, giggling mouths, tired legs… Constantly surrounded by signboards… Alexanderplatz? – Check. East Side Gallery? – Cool! Check!! Berliner Dom? – aber natürlich, check. Why are there bears everywhere? Museumsinsel? – Whoa, sure? Whole island? Aha, aha, a-ha… Well, Branden burger? – Finally, I’m starving! Kreuzberg Merkez? – Hooray, ich bin Türkei. Hallo Hemşo! Check. Then, Checkpoint Charlie? – Check, check, check!
Are you lost in the town? Again? Sleeping on the subway! I mean U-Bahn. – Check. Has it ever happened to you? And did you miss your stop? How does it feel? Safe or worrisome? Calm, with music in your headphones or hurrying towards the closing subway door? Or… wait a sec, before sleeping, what kind of journey was that? Journey to the office with a coffee-stained shirt, touristy trip holding Google Maps, passing among wagons asking for some coins, or a journey to a new home, to dreams – real or unreal -, to yourself?
What are your dreams in the town? Like sleeping with open eyes, theatre can encourage us to realize our dreams. Like a friend: C’mon, let’s get a drink. Check! C’mon, let’s get a pudding! Aha, Check! Pudding für alle und Linie 1… Nice try, you clever writer, but false! Linie 1 is from „GRIPS Theater,“ not from „Junges DT.” Their performance is called: Лінія 8 і пудинг для кожного! or Linie 8 und Pudding für alle! On the stage surrounded by the audience on three sides, we were invited to a snack through both listening and talking about both challenges and dreams.
Magst du town, magst du Berlin? In Лінія 8 і Pudding für alle! young actors – some of them born in Berlin and some coming from Ukraine – walk around the city, exploring its different corners, and take the U-Bahn Linie 8. And then? In Linie 1 a young girl from East Berlin (check-in) comes to West Berlin (check-out) in pursuit of her dreams. She walks a little bit, explores the city, and takes the U-Bahn, Linie 1. And then? And then, Berlin takes the stage with its surprises – ordinary problems, both sullen and colourful people.
How do you feel in the town? – Fast?! Fast and excited, fast and alone, fast and free, fast and fragile, fast and furious… – Oh, c’mon… but anyway, check. Why are they moving? Why are they playing as if they were in a U-Bahn, stop by stop? And step by step, what is going to change in their own stories – in the play, and in the city? Sorry, I’m a stranger, but is there a transfer point between Linie 8 and 1? If there is, is it possible to feel at home there? At the intersection of the two plays, what would the protagonists say to each other? Does it look familiar to them staying in an unstable place? Or is the journey itself a kind of „new home“?
Are you OK with that, Berlin? Ha? With your whole brutality? “Berlin! Du bist so wunderbar.” How can you be so great, Berlin? Oh Berlin, Berlin… In both plays, with all of its complexity Berlin accompanies people in the most conflicted of times. What does Berlin say to young people if adolescence also means leaving home? Herzlich willkommen, or goodbye?
You can find the reflections of Junges DT about the play on their blog here: https://www.deutschestheater.de/digital/blog-linie-8/