Small Town Boy at Maxim Gorki Theater

Directed by Falk Richter, Small Town Boy at the Maxim Gorki Theater is an experimental piece exploring sexuality, politics, and all the complexities that accompany both of these loaded topics. Running two hours with no intermission, it is a testament to the stamina of the five performers to continually shift scene, character, and–of course–costume. For the overwhelming majority of the show (at least until my Bildungsreise-induced exhaustion kicked in around the 90 minute mark), I was entranced by the constant shifting of scene and character, as well as the subtle and not-so-subtle commentaries on society and politics. With critiques on Russia’s Vladimir Putin, the Catholic Church, and Germany’s own Angela Merkel among others, it was very apparent that this was a very fresh, modern piece intent on directly addressing political questions of the day as well as more-or-less current events (for example, a scene critiquing the Fifty Shades of Grey phenomenon, which has, as far as I know, mostly passed, made clear that the piece was not written yesterday. Nonetheless, the audience got the drift and was clearly familiar with the subject matter of the books.) Our visit to the Maxim Gorki Theater in Berlin was most definitely both interesting and thought-provoking, and I look forward to seeing what else Berlin theaters have to offer as we continue our week in the city.