Wachse oder Weiche

Maximilian Schafroth is known for his sharp and tender perspective and sees himself as a mediator of the friction between town and country. For his debut theatre piece, he is evoking the world down on the farm as well as everyday life in the state capital. And to do so, he is dumping a field into the theatre, inviting the audience to witness the merger of two cooperative banks and cultivating a giant pumpkin that leads to seriously frayed tempers.

The same rule applies in the countryside and the city: those who fail to move with the times die out. Either milk (the system) and skim (the profits) – or make way for others. Everyone is labouring under this pressure, but while some jump on the bandwagon, others dig in to try and resist displacement. Is it possible that the dramas of everyday life in the village are not so different from those in the city after all?

For this performance, the Kammerspiele ensemble is merging with Maximilian Schafroth’s own team to create an evening of musical theatre ranging from raucous Allgäu blues to traditional trio singing from the outback of Old Bavaria.

In 1924, Adolf Kaufmann saved the Kammerspiele by hiring Karl Valentin and Liesl Karlstadt. This established the tradition of combining drama and political cabaret which continues to be shaped to this day by Gerhard Polt and the Biermösl Blosn, among others. Now, Maximilian Schafroth is returning to the Kammerspiele where he began his stage career in the youth theatre. He currently tours with his own show, has played the Lenten Preacher at the Nockherberg satirical roast since 2019 and voices the animated character of Pumuckl.

“If politics is increasingly based on polarisation, driving in the proverbial wedge, then it’s up to the arts – all of them, from political cabaret to theatre and music—to dissolve this wedge with bubbling creativity. And I’m really up for that.”

– Maxi Schafroth