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Baltic Sea Zanzibar
Where a narrow strip of sand divides a shallow backwater from the Baltic Sea, preventing a wilderness from being an island, stands a high fence, lies a small town. It´s where the novel „Zanzibar or the ultimate reason“ by Alfred Andersch is set. Where the theatre company „Theater Sansibar“ has its stage.
You are here: Rerik, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, East Germany.The novel is about the salvation of a Jewish girl and a sculpture from persecution/destruction by the Nazi regime in 1937. The characters are faced with questions of individual moral responsibilities under a totalitarian regime. For one of them, a young ship´s boy, the getaway is the “ultimate reason“ for escaping dull small town life, as he dreams of going to Zanzibar, his place of longing, his utopia.
To me, when I first got there and ever since, Rerik itself has been appearing as a far away, unfathomable place that makes you forget the existence of a heartland. As fictitious as its name, borrowed in 1938 from an alleged prehistoric viking site. As abstract as the 24/7 guarded fence cutting the semi-island Wustrow off the public. Once a large German military base in WWII and then by the Soviet Army, the place now belongs to an investment group. Until today, nature conservation rules prevent them from building a huge holiday facility. So they maintain this fence, allowing no one to enter what officially is a district of the town...
This is the set where author and director Barbara Frank has adapted the „Zanzibar“ novel for theater in a trilogy. The pieces deal with the initial plot in the 30ies, the transition to communism in the 50ies and the socialism of the „German Democratic Republic“ in the 70ies. After having seen a rehearsal, I have been deeply impressed by the depth of the staging and the dramatic level of the actors, Rerik citizens from fisherman to the pastor. So I wanted to learn more about them and the place and tell a story about how they bring their dramatic Rerik on stage, and who they are off-stage - in their Baltic Sea Zanzibar.
It´s work in progress.Please see captions for more info.

baltic-sea-zanzibar: Baltic Sea Zanzibar Where a narrow strip of sand divides a shallow backwater from the Baltic Sea, preventing a wilderness from being an island, stands a high fence, lies a small town. It´s where the novel „Zanzibar or the ultimate reason“ by Alfred Andersch is set. Where the theatre company „Theater Sansibar“ has its stage. You are here: Rerik, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, East Germany.The novel is about the salvation of a Jewish girl and a sculpture from persecution/destruction by the Nazi regime in 1937. The characters are faced with questions of individual moral responsibilities under a totalitarian regime. For one of them, a young ship´s boy, the getaway is the “ultimate reason“ for escaping dull small town life, as he dreams of going to Zanzibar, his place of longing, his utopia. To me, when I first got there and ever since, Rerik itself has been appearing as a far away, unfathomable place that makes you forget the existence of a heartland. As fictitious as its name, borrowed in 1938 from an alleged prehistoric viking site. As abstract as the 24/7 guarded fence cutting the semi-island Wustrow off the public. Once a large German military base in WWII and then by the Soviet Army, the place now belongs to an investment group. Until today, nature conservation rules prevent them from building a huge holiday facility. So they maintain this fence, allowing no one to enter what officially is a district of the town... This is the set where author and director Barbara Frank has adapted the „Zanzibar“ novel for theater in a trilogy. The pieces deal with the initial plot in the 30ies, the transition to communism in the 50ies and the socialism of the „German Democratic Republic“ in the 70ies. After having seen a rehearsal, I have been deeply impressed by the depth of the staging and the dramatic level of the actors, Rerik citizens from fisherman to the pastor. So I wanted to learn more about them and the place and tell a story about how they bring their dramatic Rerik on stage, and who they are off-stage - in their Baltic Sea Zanzibar. It´s work in progress.Please see captions for more info.