"ROSE" von Martin Sherman - NOMINIERT FÜR DEN KÖLNER THEATERPREIS 2024

In the organizer's words:

"ROSE"
by Martin Sherman

German by Inka M. Paul

Nominated for the Cologne Theater Prize 2024
October 18, 19, 2024
each at 20:00

"ROSE" by Martin Sherman is the play of the hour, even though it is set in 1999.

Rose, an 80-year-old Jewish woman, sits in her apartment in Miami Shiv'a, the traditional Jewish wake for close relatives.

At first we don't find out who the deceased is. She is alone, but the spirits of her life story are present. Rose tells, dramatically and with subtle humor, of the Yiddish shtetl, of the Warsaw ghetto, of the loss of loved ones, of her journey on the "Exodus" to Palestine and of her new beginning in the USA. And about how her children and grandchildren have to position themselves in Israel on the confused fronts of the Middle East conflict.
And finally, who Shiv'a sits for.

Director: Roland Hüve

Acting: Lena Sabine Berg
Production and dramaturgy:
Andrea Faschina


Kölner Stadt Anzeiger review /Thomas Dahl
11.03.2024
A fragile-looking bench with a carafe of water, a glass and a colorfully decorated cookie tin underneath. Plus a little light. That's all the props needed for the intimate play "Rose" by US playwright Martin Sherman. The quiet scenario is complemented by just one person - Rose (Lena Sabine Berg), who opens up the room to numerous figures from the past.

The year is 1999 and the setting is an apartment in Miami, Florida. Rose, an 80-year-old Jewish woman, is holding the traditional "Shiv'a" wake for relatives. The audience only finds out who this is at the end of the play, which was adapted as a challenging moral treatise under the direction of Roland Hüve. Over the next 90 minutes, the protagonist recounts her life, which has been shaped by flight, imprisonment, mass murder, hope, new beginnings and prejudice. However, pain does not play the main role. Many anecdotes make us smile, wonder and be grateful for precious moments with beloved companions.

Rose survived the Warsaw ghetto and emigrated to Palestine

The fact that mourning still remains present is due to the history of inhumanity. After all, anti-Semitism, racism, envy, corruption and wars still characterize the present. The reference to the military conflict between Israel and the terrorist organization Hamas is unavoidable. But "Rose" avoids the accusation. With a fragile, then self-confident voice, the contemporary witness recounts her stories of the journey on the ship "Exodus" to Palestine, a country where the new arrivals were unwelcome.

With logical detachment, she looks at the estrangement between orthodox Israeli Jews and the emigrants in the USA who participated in the economic boom. Rose leaves it up to the audience to make a judgment. "God died in the ghetto", the old lady refers to her experiences in the Warsaw ghetto in the spring of 1943 and questions the significance of religions and their seemingly legitimistic actions towards those who think differently.

In the densely woven story, actress Lena Sabine Berg shifts every minute from grieving bereaved woman to dreamer, euphoric dancer to sober observer of a drama "Life" that is rewritten daily, leaving the audience with plenty of baggage. This is not easy to balance, as it weighs them down with uncertainty and reminds them of their daily responsibility to engage with the idea of humanism. Rose will also falter over an answer to universal questions. How many borders does charity cross?

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