Kleiner Mann – was nun?

Perceval’s adaptation of Hans Fallada’s novel is not a saucy revue from the Berlin of the Twenties like that of Peter Zadek but a sad and extremely moving ballad about the difficult journey of a young couple through the world economic crisis. In the middle of the stage stands an old orchestrion reminiscent of a winged altar. Just as the perforated roll disappears into the music machine on one side in order to emerge from it again on the other side, so the Moloch that is Berlin swallows the unemployed Johannes and his Lämmchen and spits them out again. Luk Perceval tells the story like a penny dreadful, where Annette Paulmann as Lämmchen and Paul Herwig as Johannes deflect the couple’s faithful pathos ironically without being afraid of big emotions. Comic counterpoints are provided by the minor characters all played by top and regular members from the company. “Kleiner Mann – was nun?” [Little Man – What Now?] is hauntingly emotional narrative theatre and a superb example of a brilliantly successful novel adaptation.