In the old days, an evening at the International Theatre Festival started rather arduously. In order to get to the Hambacher Schloss, a 15th century castle and the venue of the festival, its visitors had to take a bit of a climb. Lying on a chain of pebble-shaped mountains lining the Rhenish plain to the west, a partly steep ascent led through a dense forest of beech and chestnut trees up to the castle. Therefore, the festival promised to offer more than just the usual theatre event; it became a wonderful opportunity to experience late ‘southern’ summer in Palatinate – called by some the ‘German Tuscany’.

The region, north of Alsace, indeed offers an almost southern European feel. Rich in mountainous forests, its mild climate is ideal to grow vine, vegetables and fruits in the fertile plain along the Rhine. Even exotic fruits thrive there. Almost every vicarage hosts a fig tree and that even bananas and pineapples can be found. However, the most remarkable feature of Palatine might be its light and colours. Soft, deep and vivid they have been extremely attractive to artists of all kinds. A look at the work of Max Slevogt, a frequent visitor at the beginning of the 20th century and one of the founding fathers of expressionism, reveals just how deep an impact the soft rolling landscape and its colours had on him.

But back to the Hambacher Schloss and its festival. The more history-conscious visitor might recall that the route up to the castle was exactly the way followed by students and teachers, craftsmen and writers in the summer of 1832 to the Hambacher Fest. Fostered by recent political unrest in Germany and France and the Polish fight for freedom, they came together to express their dissatisfaction with the ancien regimes and to demand democratic reforms. Their three-day ‘Fest’ was the first time that the democratic movement was able to raise its voice in a repressive political climate.

However, the Hambacher Fest had no direct political consequences. Quite a few of its participants went on trial, but the political Biedermeier system in Germany remained intact. It took another sixteen years until the (eventually unsuccessful) 1848 revolution once again shook the foundations of German politics.

In my end is my beginning

The theatre festival itself offers a far lighter view of human and political affairs. With its focus on cabaret, it mainly looks at the everyday side of life: from Russian dance theatre, Italian music comedy to French clowns. My most vivid recollection is of a Czech pantomime orchestra, which had apparently left all its instruments at home. Faced with this challenge, the artists became masters of improvisation – singers and dancers, composers and conductors in front of our eyes. A transformation which was a vivid metaphor for all the change life might entail, and how to cope with it …

What if I were to tell you that during the research for this small piece I found out that the International Theatre Festival had ceased to exist? After years of financial difficulty its stages are deserted, its props heavily covered with dust. And the Hambacher Schloss? Fallen back into the same slumber it went through after the defeat of the democrats more than 150 years ago – it remains alive only in the recollections of those who enjoyed there a night or two in the plethora of summer. Wouldn’t this be the appropriate ending for a rather dreamy melancholic piece like this?

The truth however, is quite the reverse. The International Theatre Festival and the Hambacher Schloss are doing rather well. The Festival still offers a fantastic array of cabaret; while the castle hosts a permanent exhibition to commemorate its role in the German democratic movement. And one day, I’ll be back…