To the point of pain
A chanson evening with cabaret interludes or a cabaret evening with chansons? The guests in the very well attended kurtheater could choose – and no matter what they chose, with tina teubner and ben suverkrup it turned out to be a warm-hearted, enjoyable and thought-provoking evening.
The cabaret artist and singer from the rhineland attracted lovers of a cabaret style that analyzed german reality beyond empty comedy, exaggerated politician bashing or flat joke counting with background texts, profound songs and anarchy suitable for everyday life. Teubner’s stylistic devices were neither sarcasm nor cynicism, but rather a pleasant irony, with which she put her finger in the wounds, but without poking at them. With this irony she led the audience to the place where it can become painful and then left it to her guests to pass over it with laughter or to remain silent in dismay. After an amused "now the mood is down" she found the right words as a transition to the next topic or the therapeutic reappraisal of the thoughtful mood in a chanson. She gave her songs a partly melancholic atmosphere with an accentuated and powerful voice and a timbre reminiscent of edith piaf. The trained violinist was musically supported by ben suverkrup, who not only mastered the concert grand in a virtuoso manner, but also acted as an intelligent dialog partner and ingenious speaker of cue.
Microphone in the center of the stage, bistro table with a glass of red wine and matching stool – together with the flugel there were three fixed points where the action on the stage took place and between which tina teubner shuttled back and forth quite naturally. The stage center was reserved for the intense performances, for the "inclusive theater with supervised laughter". Here she laid the foundation for her program with the promising title "if you leave me i will come with you" – and she applied this implied togetherness to the whimsical facets of a family community, linking it to panic attacks when one has a view of the world: "when eight people own as much as half the population, moral values are shifted." Why do we pretend that there is a reserve world?? Why do we use the third world as a substitute warehouse?? Why do we attend mindfulness and yoga classes to act selfishly anyway?? Why is mass dismissal seen as the "ultimate fengshui"? Viewed at? Why is "homemade jam"? A metaphor for the state of our world?
In contrast, teubner used the bistro table for casual conversation with a philosophical undertone, for amusing remarks with a sufficient undertone. Of course I want to save the world, but before that I have to sleep in. Of course we want to act morally, but where do we get the right values?? Why is a woman over 50 invisible to men?? The third fixed point in this excellent, entertaining evening were the songs, which had their starting point at the piano. The duo had a suitable piece for every topic – sometimes ironic, sometimes melancholic, sometimes rebellious, but always authentic. Teubner was also credible in her praise for the receptive audience at the end of the wonderful evening, when, after hearty applause with a rhythm of applause, she called on them with a typical phrase: "let’s be the stradivarius among the asses!"