What’s On

Störtebeker 2018: The Call of Freedom

June 21, 2018 By Graham Leave a Comment

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 Störtebeker

Störtebeker 2017: In the Shadow of Death

June 22, 2017 By Graham 1 Comment

The end of the cycle at the Störtbeker Festspiele on Rügen can only mean one thing: Klaus Störtebeker is going to lose his head at the end of the evening. But before we things get that far, there is a story to finish telling.

At the end of the 2016 play, Klaus Störtebeker and his men had moved to the North Sea and it is several years later, now in 1401, that we pick up the story. Klaus (Bastian Semm) and Goedecke (Andreas Euler) are about to attack one of the stores in Hamburg, where Fronica (Karin Hartmann) is selling fish at the market. They are successful, ultimately burning down the store after taking the contents back to their ships, but it only makes the elders in Hamburg more determined than ever to capture the pirates.

Klaus Störtebeker (Bastian Semm) coming out of the fog

Enter Simon von Ütrecht (Nicolas König) [Read more…]

Filed Under: What's On Tagged With: Andreas Euler, Bastian Semm, Bianca Warnek, Execution, Hamburg, Karin Hartmann, Marienhafe, Mike Herrmann Rader, Nicolas König, Philipp Richter, Ralswiek, Ruegen, Rügen, Stoertebeker, Störtebeker, Wolfgang Lippert

Störtebeker’s Falconer

June 21, 2017 By Graham Leave a Comment

There is a moment during the Störtebeker Festspiele that always amazes the audience, when “Laran” the eagle flows low over their heads and lands on Störtebeker’s arm. They gasp and those directly under the flight path can feel the rush of air has he silently glides over them.

Stiwi, the bird playing Laran, and his trainer Volker Walter, have been taking part in the play for the past 20 years and travel each year in May from their home in Bavaria to Rügen for the summer season, along with a host of other birds that he trains with his wife.

Last year I was lucky enough to be invited to visit them and see their birds of prey first hand.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: What's On Tagged With: eagle, Falcon, Falconer, Falkner, Falknerei Walter, Festspiele, Laran, Stiwi, Stoertebeker, Störtebeker, Volker Walter

Störtebeker 2018: The Call of Freedom

Störtebeker 2017: In the Shadow of Death

Störtebeker’s Falconer

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