DER ALTE MANN UND DAS MEER

Ernest Hemingway, in a play version by Tom Quaas

Hemingway sits at his typewriter, falls asleep and dreams his famous novel: An elderly man named SANTIAGO fights with a fish named MARLIN. He fights not only with this fish, but with the whole of nature, aging, the inexorability of things. He mourns his lost love. He misses her just as much as MANOLIN, a boy from the neighboring village with whom he often went fishing in his childhood. SANTIAGO meets MANOLIN again. But is SANTIAGO just dreaming all this now? Is it a dream within a dream, including the fight with the giant fish? And what happens when SANTIAGO wakes up?
"A stage version by Tom Quaas celebrated its premiere at the Societätstheater Dresden on 27.11.2024, which doesn't have an ounce of fat on it, just like Hemingway's short monumental work. In a cleverly conceived and stringently narrated 70 minutes, Quaas, as author and leading actor, dares to offer less of a conclusive interpretation of the text than a bold and open interpretation. The silent sequence lasting several minutes (choreographed by Hauenherm together with Jenny Ecke), in which Santiago baits the fish, catches it and finally defeats it on the bottom of his boat in the death of love, forms the highlight of this witty production. It is a magnificent catch." (Dresdner Neueste Nachrichten)

Acting: Tom Quaas | Dance and singing: Sophie Hauenherm | Direction: Matthias Nagatis | Co-direction: Ulrike Schuster | Choreography: Sophie Hauenherm, Jenny Ecke | Speaker: Paula Henke-Quaas | Set: Tilo Schiemenz | Set design: Tom Quaas | Composition: Peter Andreas