INTERVIEW

An Hour of Devoted Expectation

Martin Reckhaus and Arno Kleinofen on GOOD-BYE, MR. SCARINSKY

In 2018 Martin Reckhaus and Arno Kleinofen worked together on Good-bye, Mr. Scarinsky, a poetic Stand Up Comedy and Solo Performance.

Two characters are central to the show: Mr. Scarinsky and his Double, Mohashek, both played by Reckhaus. A tour de force on the life of a Comedian. Scarinsky is full of antics, tells lazy and smart jokes with taboo-less humor, and drags his audience into a vertigo of places, situations, and reflections on life as a stage and life on the stage. Mohashek is frequently reminding him to leave the stage. He is a phantasmagoric character challenging Scarinsky at any given moment, revealing the tricks of a Comedian to keep on standing.

This interview is a reflection on the spectator’s anticipation and the transitory nature of theater and being.

 

 

Arno Kleinofen (AK) Where does the name Scarinsky come from?

Martin Reckhaus (MR) From a reservoir of dreams. While dreaming, I sometimes recall names, certain persons, to find some orientation. And Scarinsky has been one of those persons I called after. But I cannot recall how this character became a person, talking to me in bright daylight. I remember him becoming the only person who could talk to me in emergency situations and give advice. So Scarinsky has one existence in my dreams and another in my everyday life, where he hopefully will appear and be capable of talking to me.

AK: What kind of invitation do you extend to the audience ?

MR: To spend an hour of devoted expectation.

AK: Do you expect the audience to have questions?

MR: At the moment I can imagine them to come to the show with certain questions. I imagine the door to the theater being opened and an audience coming in and the people immediately start asking each other questions, I like that idea very much. If I had to shoot a film, even if it’s an adaption of “The Declaration of Human Rights,” this scene would take place in the film.

AK: What would be the collective moment here?

MR: Well, to ask each other questions is, in fact, like flirting. To ask questions is, so to say, to change the set design.

AK: Is it about demasking the audience?

MR: If somebody dares to leave the streets and to enter a theater, at this moment she will use a mask. I’ve only once experienced a solar eclipse, I saw people wearing masks to protect against the light. Ah, what a light! I never saw this before. So, I think, those masks people are wearing the moment they enter a theater is very similar to that. Their mask is a kind of protective tool.

AK: What exactly is the “stupidity” of the so-called fourth wall in the theatre?

MR: The fourth wall tries to pretend to be god.

AK: “…to point to the absolute by hiding it?”

MR: I think that is one of the major questions of an actor.

AK: Is a state of insecurity generating something like poetry?

MR: I think it’s actually vice versa. Poetry creates a state of insecurity.