On 24 November 1952, a rather special specimen of humankind was born in Berlin-Karlshorst: there are men, there are women, there are children — but there is only one Ilja. That is what I have learned over the ten years of our collaboration. Wisdom means not waiting for a wonderful play to come strolling around the corner, but writing and staging it yourself, and stepping onto the boards of your dream theatre with it for your 65th birthday. Not quite on the birthday itself, but a day later: VERGESST WINNETOU has its world premiere on 25 November 2017 at the Schlosspark Theater Berlin, and since there is no point advertising tomorrow's show — it is already sold out — we point here to the second Berlin performance. 19 May 2018 at 4 p.m.ILJA RICHTER: "VERGESST WINNETOU"
Extract from an interview in the Tagesspiegel of 24 November 2017:
Mr Richter, in a few days you will be appearing at Berlin's Schlosspark Theater, Dieter Hallervorden's house. A friend of yours? Yes, although friendship between us is an elastic concept. Every now and then Dieter calls and says: "Ilja, you always come up with such lovely titles. I urgently need one."_Something like "Lights off — spotlight on"? Your catchphrase from "Disco", one of the first pop music shows on German television, is legendary, after all.Oh, that was a long time ago. Just like "Zelleriesalat und Gitterspeise", a Hallervorden programme in the 1980s. But the title of his current biography, "Hallervorden — ein Komiker macht Ernst", I gave him only recently.And to thank you, he invited you to perform your Karl May revue "Vergesst Winnetou" at his theatre.Typical Dieter: we're sitting there racking our brains over titles. At some point I mention that I'm working on a programme about Karl May. He asks: "What's that? Oh, that's interesting." Then he goes over to the computer, checks where there's a free slot in the schedule, boom, bang, done. I really appreciate that.Hallervorden belongs to a generation that instantly knows what to make of Karl May. You first have to explain him to younger people.May has a print run of 200 million. Whether I do this evening or not: May is the best-selling, most successful German writer. This man interests me.Anyone who grew up as a boy in the 1960s had to decide whether they wanted to be Winnetou or Old Shatterhand when playing.I dressed up as a cowboy, and when I came out of the children's matinée I was a Western hero. That said, my justice-loving father pointed out to me early on how the Native Americans had been treated. They were destroyed; their land was taken from them.What makes a good cinema Western?That the elementary questions of life are clearly settled from the outset: you don't do certain things because they are unfair and ruthless, and it is perfectly clear that they must be opposed. The parody "Der Schuh des Manitu" must then have been pure horror for you. Not in the least, it was delightful. Nor did I understand why Pierre Brice got so worked up and demanded "RRRespect!" for his Winnetou. Of course I'm on the side of the comedians. Bully Herbig made his film as a declaration of love to Karl May.And now you're making one too?_My Karl May evening won't be a declaration of love to the Western. Nor is it about how many books I've read and how lovely it all was with Karl May. I'm putting on an entertaining evening at which you are informed, you laugh, you feel a little sad. I sing, I read, I speak. And when people leave, I want them to say: ah, so that's how it was, I'd never have thought it. After all, you don't want to bore the customers.