Der Gang vor die Hunde
('Going to the dogs')
A musical exploration
of Erich Kästner's Fabian
Jakob Fabian, a German philologist who earns his living as a copywriter, reels through 1920s Berlin. Nowhere else are splendour and misery, ecstasy and crime this close to each other. Fabian meets drinkers, inspiring artists and endangered intellectuals and attempts to stay true to his ideals in the urban jungle. At the same time, the Weimar Republic's only recently established democracy begins to falter. When Fabian meets Cornelia, true love appears to be within his grasp. However, these are not times in which to make plans for the future...
In 1931, only a heavily censored version of Erich Kästner's satirical novel was deemed suitable for publication. When the Nazis came to power two years later, the author decided against fleeing the country and stayed in Berlin, where he had to witness his books being burned with his own eyes. An uncensored version of the novel that once again made a wide audience aware of the humour and empathy of 'Germany's most hopeful pessimist' (Marcel Reich-Ranicki), as well as his razor-sharp criticism, was not published until 2013. Martin Brambach and his ensemble have produced a startlingly contemporary, entertaining play featuring the popular music of the 1920s.
Besides acting in numerous long runs at the Burgtheater and other important playhouses, Martin Brambach is also well-known as one of the most versatile German film actors, thanks to his more than 200 appearances in movies and TV productions. On television, he plays Inspector Schnabel in the Dresden-based episodes of the long-running TV crime series Tatort, for example, a portrayal that has earned him a Grimme-Preis television award, and he has also appeared in such successful productions as the adaptations of Schirach's Shades of Guilt and Thomas Vinterberg's The Command.
After training at the Max Reinhardt Seminar in Vienna, Christine Sommer worked at various theatres. She has also acted in many TV and series productions. In addition, she tours all over Germany with her partner Martin Brambach and their own programmes.
Jürgen Hartmann was born in Stuttgart in 1965. After studying clowning under Frieder Nögge at the Hanover University of Music, Drama and Media, he joined the cast of the Staatstheater Darmstadt from 1992 to 1997. In 1996, he was nominated for an 'Actor of the Year' award for his portrayal of Liliom, directed by Michael Gruner. This was followed by several years at the Deutsches Nationaltheater Weimar and Theater Dortmund, as well as guest appearances at various theatres and opera houses. In addition, he has also appeared in numerous movie and TV productions. He has played the medical examiner Dr Vogt in the Stuttgart-based episodes of the long-running TV crime series Tatort since 2007.
Jubril Sulaimon was born in Nigeria in 1968 and lived there until the age of 23. In Lagos, a city with a population that numbers millions, he became involved with the community theatre Ayota Arts Centre. He studied drama at the Obafemi Awolowo University in Ile-Ife and then became a permanent member of the Collective Artistes headed by Chuck Mike. Jubril Sulaimon also gained acting experience in plays directed by the Nobel Prize for Literature winner Wole Soyinka. He has lived in Germany since 1992 and regularly acts at various theatres in the German-speaking countries, i.e. Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Luxembourg.
The professional saxophonist and singer Cathrin Groth from Dortmund already extensively focused on the sound of jazz saxophonists such as Stan Getz, Ben Webster, Lester Young and John Coltrane even before she gained her degree. She has performed concerts with pianists, chamber music ensembles, saxophone quartets and symphony orchestras, but also realises her own projects. In 2016, for example, she released the album Versionauten, which she recorded with the Jazzkantine guitarist Tom Bennecke under the name of Groth & Bennecke.
The guitarist Christian Hammer lives in Gelsenkirchen and studied jazz guitar at the Amsterdam University of the Arts under Wim Overgaauw, Jesse van Ruller and Maarten van der Grinten. He performs solo and in various jazz groups and projects that blur the boundaries between music, theatre, dance and the visual arts. His current projects include, for example, the Kioomars Musayyebi Quartett (finalist Creole 2017), Lichterklanglabor (free improvisations to light installations by Karl Rosenwald) as well as Hammerhead (organ trio with Martin Scholz and Wolfgang Ekholt). He hosts a concert series entitled Hammer+3 with different guest artists in the Gelsenkirchen gallery werkstatt.
Besides performing as a musician, Markus Conrads initially studied IT at TU Dortmund University and worked as a software developer. In 2022, however, he decided to pursue a full-time career in music and studied jazz bass at Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen. He has been the bassist and mandolin player of the band Wildes Holz, which has released numerous albums, since 1998. His concerts have led him to countries such as China, Korea, Russia, Poland and Italy, for example.
Performance rights: © Bühnenverlag Weitendorf
