“I can understand German as well as the maniac that invented it, but I talk it best through an interpreter.“
The author most often represented in the DARK MONDAY series has been Mark Twain whose texts have proven to be extremely popular with our audience at MERLIN; SHOCKHEADED PETER, THE DIARIES OF ADAM & EVE, LIFE ON THE MISSISSIPPI, MARK TWAIN IN HEIDELBERG, LETTERS FROM THE EARTH, MARK TWAIN: TONIGHT! and THE AWFUL GERMAN LANGUAGE.
Now in its 11th year and to commemorate the 120th installment of the DARK MONDAY @ MERLIN series, we will revive one of our earliest and most beloved shows – THE AWFUL GERMAN LANGUAGE by Mark Twain – with a New Cast and Live Music!
THE AWFUL GERMAN LANGUAGE by Mark Twain
Directed by Charles C. Urban
Featuring Jorinde Weinmann, Kirsten Schulze, Ashley Remus, Joerg Witzsch, Derrick Jenkins, Florian Eisterntraut
Photos by Uka Meissner deRuiz
Mark Twain was America’s foremost satirical essayists and author of extremely popular travel books.
At the time that they were published, the travel books INNOCENTS ABROAD, FOLLOWING THE EQUATOR, ROUGHING IT and A TRAMP ABROAD were far more popular than his novels and short stories, for which he is remember today.
Mark Twain interpreted the foreign cultures that he encountered on his travels around the world through the eyes of an average American. He, of course, poked fun at the exotic experience but also at himself.
Mark Twain had an abiding fascination with Germany and spent over a year in the country with his entire family. Based in Heidelberg and Berlin, he undertook excursions to all parts of Germany as well as Switzerland and Austria.
Before leaving for Europe, Twain hired German nannies for his children, who gave them instruction in the language and conversed with them, so that they could practice their skills. Twain actually wanted the children to read German books before English books – his reason being that they would learn English no matter what, and it would be easier for them to learn other languages while they were young.
With this daily exposure to the German language, at his Connecticut home and while living and traveling in German speaking countries, it can be conjectured that Mark Twain had quite a fair comprehension of the language. Eyewitnesses of the period report that the entire family spoke fluent German.
Yet, he writes of his German skills: “I am complimented a good deal on my German, in Berlin. On one occasion I emptied out a sentence of 47 words and it had only 63 grammatical errors in it.”
On another occasion, he reprimands himself, saying “You have been a fool. If you had put in as many years improving your spiritual nature, as you have put in on the German language, you could have been in heaven by this time.”
In reality, Twain was so versed in the German language that he actually translated the popular mid-1900 century German children’s book, STRUWELPETER into English; as a Christmas present for his daughters.
But, for the sake of his audience, the humorist prevailed and in 1880, Mark Twain described his futile attempt to learn the German language with its incomparable grammar and other peculiarities, in an essay poignantly entitled THE AWFUL GERMAN LANGUAGE
THE AWFUL GERMAN LANGUAGE by Mark Twain
PERFORMANCE: June 3 at 20:00 hrs in MERLIN
TICKETS: https://loveyourartist.com/de/events/dark-monday-awful-stuttgart-FPRBD3
In cooperation with: DAZ – Deutsch-Amerikanisches Zentrum, Staatministerin für Kultur und Medien, Kulturverein Merlin e.V.
New English American Theater Stuttgart 