Photo: Thomas Aurin, 2018
Photo: Thomas Aurin, 2018 
Photo: Thomas Aurin, 2018
Photo: Thomas Aurin, 2018 
 
Photo: Thomas Aurin, 2018
Photo: Thomas Aurin, 2018 
Photo: Thomas Aurin, 2018
Photo: Thomas Aurin, 2018 
Photo: Thomas Aurin, 2018
Photo: Thomas Aurin, 2018 
Photo: Thomas Aurin, 2018
Photo: Thomas Aurin, 2018 
Photo: Thomas Aurin, 2018
Photo: Thomas Aurin, 2018 
Photo: Thomas Aurin, 2018
Photo: Thomas Aurin, 2018 
Photo: Thomas Aurin, 2018
Photo: Thomas Aurin, 2018 
Photo: Thomas Aurin, 2018
Photo: Thomas Aurin, 2018 
 
Photo: Thomas Aurin, 2018
Photo: Thomas Aurin, 2018 
Photo: Thomas Aurin, 2018
Photo: Thomas Aurin, 2018 
Photo: Thomas Aurin, 2018
Photo: Thomas Aurin, 2018 
Photo: Thomas Aurin, 2018
Photo: Thomas Aurin, 2018 
Photo: Thomas Aurin, 2018
Photo: Thomas Aurin, 2018 
 
 

Champignol in Spite of Himself

by Georges Feydeau
Direction and Set Design: Herbert Fritsch

German translation by Friedrich Karl Wittich

04/21/2019, 17.00–20.00

St. Florimond and Angèle, wife of the famous painter Champignol, have an affair – or rather, they almost had one. But Angèle is tired of the dalliance with St. Florimond. She wants to get rid of him – and would succeed, were it not for an unexpected visit by relatives that forces St. Florimond to play the role of her husband. Even when the gendarmes turn up to draft the painter for a reservists’ drill, St. Florimond keeps up the masquerade in order to conceal the adultery that never actually took place. He reports for duty in Champignol’s stead. When the real Champignol shows up at the same barracks shortly afterwards, the confusion is complete ...

With »Champignol wider Willen« (»Champignol In Spite of Himself «), which premiered in 1892 in Paris, Georges Feydeau – one of the most successful writers of Vaudeville theatre and a master of the comedy of mistaken identity – created a buoyant, lightening quick social farce. In an intricately constructed tissue of lies and misunderstandings, the characters find themselves caught up in one terrible quandary after another as the story spirals into increasing absurdity. It is an ideal comedy for Herbert Fritsch who, after »Zeppelin« and »NULL«, is now directing at the Schaubühne for the third time.

>>> Essay about the production in Pearson's Preview: Champignol in a Half-Shell, or Comedy Despite Itself

Direction and Set Design: Herbert Fritsch
Costume Design: Victoria Behr
Musical Direction: Ingo Günther
Dramaturgy: Bettina Ehrlich
Lighting Design: Erich Schneider
Saint-Florimond: Bastian Reiber
Champignol: Florian Anderer
Angèle, his wife: Ursina Lardi
Camel, her uncle: Werner Eng
Singleton, her husband: Damir Avdic
Camaret, Capitaine: Axel Wandtke
Adrienne, his daughter: Iris Becher
Célestin, his nephew: Bernardo Arias Porras
Charlotte, maid at Champignol's: Carol Schuler
Joseph, servant at Champignol's / Jérôme, servant at Rivolet's: Robert Beyer
Fourrageot, Commandant: Stefan Staudinger
Ledoux, Adjudant: Robert Beyer
Grosbon, Caporal: Carol Schuler
Deneuve, Reservist: Bernardo Arias Porras
A gendarme: Stefan Staudinger
Musicians: Ingo Günther, Taiko Saito, Fabrizio Tentoni
Duration: ca. 180 minutes(with intermission)

Premiered on 24 October 2018

 A cooperation with the Universität der Künste Berlin.