Terribly Funny Based on Horribly Sad

He and She meet in a strange place at an unusual hour. She has come to “soak up” some moonlight, He seems to have never left this place. This place at the edge of a precipice – what is it? She says she wants to catch her breath in silence, but then she can’t seem to stop talking. He does not care for her presence, he wants no dialogue, but then berates her in a crazy fit. Sometimes he can be ruthless: “To get the desired result, comedy requires temporarily anaesthetizing the heart.” For much of the time, things are terribly funny – a farce plays out between Him and Her. As the night wears on, however, cracks begin to show in the comedy, revealing its true causes, a despair at taking charge of something where all other methods of control have come to nothing. We built a totally new world around Fred Apke’s play. It served us as an ironic close-up on two people grappling with the tragedy of loss. We posed questions about the possibility of forging bonds, closeness, sensitivity, all over again. Through comedy we speak of a very difficult moment in their lives, maybe the most difficult.

Photos: Magda Hueckel