Return to Ralswiek: Störtebeker Festspiele 2023

Between the years 2011 and 2019 I attended at least one performance of the Störtebeker Festspiele each year. In some years I visited the island of Rügen twice – once for the press performance and once on holiday – and saw three performances of the same play.

Of course, the Covid pandemic changed all of that, so what would have been my tenth year everything got cancelled. The set was built, tickets sold, no performances took place. The year after, 2021, the decision was taken early on to cancel the performances. In the end, the theatre was able to re-open in 2022 with precautions in place to isolate the actors from the audience and avoid possible infections.

Between 2020 and 2022, the actor playing Klaus Störtebeker – Alexander Koll – hat given up the role, resulting in new posters being produced and the role being re-cast to Moritz Stephan. 2022 also saw the interesting addition of a small canal to the stage, with part of the action taking place in Holland. But, after over two years of travel restrictions, we had set other priorities for the summer holidays and did not make in to Rügen.

So this year saw our Return to Rügen and to Ralswiek! Having spent the day in the village which included a walk to the stables, we attended the birds of prey show followed by the 2023 play “Gotland under fire” where – with permission – I was able to take some photos.

Störtebeker Festspiele 2023 - The Stage
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Störtebeker 2019: Oath of the Righteous

The middle of June and a trip to Rügen can only mean one thing: it’s time for a new production of the Störtebeker Festspiele.

Having returned to the beginning of the story last year, we fast forward to the year 1393 and the siege of Stockholm.  Margarete, Queen of Denmark and Norway, has occupied most of Sweden and is hoping to add a third crown to her collection.  However Stockholm refusing to surrender, with the pirates provided a supply route back to Mecklenburg.  Similar to the division of Berlin many hundred years later, the siege has torn families appart, in some case with members of the same family forced to fight each other.

The bastillion of Stockholm
The bastillion of Stockholm
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Störtebeker 2018: The Call of Freedom

June sees the start of a new cycle of the Störtebeker Festspiele auf Rügen, with two new actors in the lead roles.  During the winter months, both Klaus Störtebeker and Goedeke Michels were re-cast, to the surprise of many fans.

Alexander Koll from Eschweiler near Aachen and Alexander Hanfland from Cologne have joined the cast in Ralswiek and will be giving their first performances in their new roles on Saturday evening at the premiere.

The story returns to the beginning with Klaus, not yet a pirate, being simply “Klaus von Alkun”.  But the play is not just a repeat of the one five years ago, for a start it takes place four years later in 1395.  There are some similarities, such as Klaus’ father (Norbert Braun) being in debt and losing his land to a unscrupulous family, but other elements are new.

Alexander Koll as Klaus StörtebekerAlexander Koll as Klaus Störtebeker

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