Interview with Actor Wolf E. RAHLFS

"I studied acting so to become a director"

He is a director and an actor and plays for the second time in Romania, at the German State Theatre in Timisoara. After the "Kamikaze" by Alina Nelega (2007), Wolf E. Rahlfs (www.wolfrahlfs.de) plays the lead role in "Don Carlos" by Schiller, directed by Alexander Hausvater – a performance to be premiered on Saturday, May 21 2011. Wolf E. Rahlfs has a rich experience as a director and actor in Germany. In England, where he studied, he was awarded by the Royal Shakespeare Company for the performance "SOLOSHOW: Notes from Underground” by Eric Bogosian (2001), and, in Germany, he was awarded the First Prize in the International Festival for Theatre Directing in 2009. But returning to the play in progress...

Wolf E. Rahlfs a semnat regia spectacolului Stop the Tempo! de Gianina Cărbunariu, în 2006)

Wolf E. Rahlfs a semnat regia spectacolului Pornografie, în 2010)

You are already playing in your second performance with the GSTT. How did you discover Romania and the German Theatre in Timisoara?
Several years ago I was employed at the Badische Landesbühne Bruchsal, with whom the German Theatre of Timisoara entered into a partnership in 2005. When concluding the partnership, we presented in Timisoara "Urfaust", in which I played Mephistopheles. It is when I met Ida (Ida Jarcsek-Gaza, GSTT director at the time – Ed.) and Lucian (the current director of GSTT - Ed).  We kept in contact. And one day, without really believing it would actually happen, I told them I would like to play in this theatre. Then, at the end of 2006, they contacted me and asked whether I had the time to play in "Kamikaze" by Alina Nelega - a play in two characters. The performance was premiered in April 2007, and was directed by Gabriel Cadariu in Targu Mures. It was a beautiful experience, we had an intimate creative atmosphere, which was also fit for the play, we also performed it in Germany, but the only thing I regretted was that, rehearsing a bit isolated, just me Christine Cizmaş - my stage partner - and the director, I always had the feeling that I not really know this theatre, because I was not really in contact with the company. So I wanted to play in Timisoara and in a performance with a larger distribution, and when Lucian asked me to play Don Carlos with Hausvater, I was very happy about it, especially that Don Carlos is a role that I always wanted to play.

Wolf E. Rahlfs în spectacolul Don Carlos, regia Alexander Hausvater

How did you find Hausvater, as a director?
I think that on the day of the premiere I will love him and hate him at the same time, and that every two seconds (laughs – Ed.). He is always asking high levels of energy from the actor, even in rehearsals, and he simply doesn’t accept you unless you can keep up with him. But the mere fact that he himself invests the same energy and passion that he expects, understanding each character and each nuance of it without saying "this is positive, that's negative, " is extraordinary to me. More difficult for me as an actor was that Hausvater compressed the play, reduced the story to essence - is so compressed that I often find it hard to live the character, and think, and also illustrate the action, in only five seconds. Now that you’re asking (the interview was taken in late April – Ed.), I don’t know how I’ll do my part. Especially since, during rehearsals, Hausvater constantly changes his ideas. Before five minutes you were doing a scene in a way, and in other five minutes, completely different. In addition, I play various instruments in the ply, especially the guitar, which I master at a basic level. It is a challenge to combine all these elements into one character.

How do you let yourself be directed by another director, since you are a director yourself?
When I rehearse as an actor, I try not to think that I am a director too. I try to focus only on what I play and the relations with the other actors. I never sit on the sideline and I think of how I would have done it.

Wolf E. Rahlfs în rolul Willie din Zile fericite de Beckett, 2007)

You have directed many plays so far, from what I’ve read...
Actually, I studied acting so to become a director.

Why did you not study directing from the very beginning?
(laughs – Ed.) Because I believed that a director can only be very good if he knows the actor’s perspectives.

But, in the end, did you study directing?
Yes, in England. First I studied acting at in Liverpool for three years, and then I did a two years master’s degree in directing in London. I played during all this time, so, after finishing my studies, I seriously considered whether to remain in England or return to Germany. In my hesitations I got an offer from Landesbühne Bruchsal - to be hired as an actor, with prospects for directing as well. The offer seemed fit and, moreover, I was more interested in German theatre than English theatre. This was also an artistic decision.

Wolf E. Rahlfs a regizat Macbeth, în 2008

How long have you been employed at Bruchsal?
Five years, until 2007. Since then I am a freelancer, both as an actor and as a director. Most of the times, however, I play and stage at the Bruchsal Theatre. I know everyone there. In any performance that I make, I know exactly whom to work with, who will understand at a glance what I want. In theatres you do not know, you must always take it from the scratch.

Is this convenience not dangerous for you as an artist?
For me, as a director it is good, because I do no longer have to bother so much with organising things and I can focus on the essence.

A few years ago in Germany you staged Gianina Cărbunariu’s play "Stop the Tempo"...
Yes, it was the first staging of the text in Germany. I must admit that I was not the one to discover the play, but the director of the Bruchsal Theatre, Carsten Ramm, at the New Plays from Europe Biennale in Wiesbaden. Most interestingly, is that it happened in 2005, the very year when I played in Timisoara "Urfaust" and Gianina was here. I met her then and after talking a little about the play, it was clear to me that I want to stage it.

What is professional ascent to you at the moment?
Running a theatre. There are stage designers, musicians, actors with whom I make a good team and I would like to continue working.

Wolf E. Rahlfs în Bacantele de Euripide (în propria sa regie, în 2009)

Do you have a strategy to it?
I am 33 years old and I never had anything like a life plan. I have been working continuously for seven years, but I begin to feel that the theatre costs me a great deal of energy and I have very little of a private life... When you're an actor, I can never forget why you are into this profession. I would like to discover and develop with people that I mentioned theatrical forms that are the result of our searches, which represent ourselves one hundred percent... something different to "now I am playing with his director, another tomorrow, and the day after I stage Shakespeare...” Of course, it can be interesting too, but I would like, somehow or the other, to be a little more consistent in pursuing my own searches. And not starting from scratch each time.

Where did you base the theatre: in Germany, in the UK...?
In Germany, somewhere in the north, around Hanover. I was born in Hanover, my parents live there, and I’ve been away from home 15 years already... and they are growing older and I would like to see them more often. So I think it would be on an area of 200 km around Hanover... Hamburg, Berlin, Bremen... but I'd surely love to collaborate from time to time overseas as well, in English speaking areas.

Wolf E. Rahlfs în SOLOSHOW - Notes from Underground

What is the first thing you notice when comparing Romanian theatre, the German theatre and English theatre?
That in England, the playwright is king, in Germany - the director, and in Romania, the feeling...