Fit and motivated for his premiere in the « Brandner Kaspar »

Mr. Halmer, you have recently been committed to the SOS Children’s Villages and recently said in this context that it was important to you to leave something lasting. At the same time, there is an important premiere in the residence theater. How do we start?
Günther Maria Halmer: Doesn’t matter. It is a wonderful thing if you can help with the children’s villages. The other is: I am very happy that I can and can still play at my age. On the « Resi », the rehearsals with the « Brandner Kaspar » newly written by Kroetz are already a real joy. The piece is very different from the previously known. This is no longer a sway, but rather a kind of fairy tale. But let’s start with the children’s villages.

Is there a reason why they are committed to children?
Halmer: Well, children are the weakest in society. These are the most innocent, you can see that again in the Gaza strip. What can the children do for all the madness there? I was born in 1943 and also had to go to the bunker as a toddler. I can still feel this fear of back then. Maybe that’s a reason for my commitment.

From June you will play the Brandner Kaspar, i.e. the Bavarian slit ear, which bought a few years while playing cards. How did it come about?
Halmer: Do you know the piece?

Yes. And I know that the legendary playwright Franz Xaver Kroetz wrote the text by Franz von Kobell’s motifs.
Halmer: As always, it is at the Kroetz, it is hearty and truthful. This is not so a bit of Bavarian baroque, it gets down to business. The Boandlkramer is not a funny guy, but death as he is. The discussion between old and death is not funny either, but brutally honest. The director Philipp Stölzl had a special stage design made. Kroetz wants the piece to be shown like a naive fairy tale. This means that it is not worked with all the tricks of the theater, but that is rather pure.

What prompted you to play this exhausting role?
Halmer: I actually talked to my wife about whether I should do that to myself. And she said: « Dare! » The nice thing about my job is that, like in other areas, you are not switched off at 65 and then only has to define your free time. I am pleased that I can still get involved with my talent and I still feel fit. Even if I am mostly the oldest when I get to the theater or a location. I find it funny to play with young people. My granddaughter is also currently at the Falckenberg School in Munich, which I attended 60 years ago. I enjoy talking to her about how it is there today. It still has everything in front of them. In a nutshell: the age is not always just shit. If you are still in a good mood, you can still enjoy it.

Was there an exchange with Kroetz in advance?
Halmer: No, but of course Kroetz knows that I play the role. I think he is still consciously holding back and will only appear during the main samples. But he is happy to be asked that he was asked to write the piece. Obviously he had a flow while writing. The piece is said to have run out of his pen. It is said to have been a need to write this more thoughtful version of Brandner Kaspar.

If you personally offer you the opportunity to extend your own life in the card game – would you take?
Halmer: I don’t play cards, but at my age you try to live healthy. My wife also takes care of that too. And I also look at the death ads, and you can already see when it gets particularly tight. I live in a small village with many old people. There is a lot of funerals. You can get that in a village. Of course you also think of yourself.

What do you do to stay healthy in old age?
Halmer: I’ve been going to a gym for 40 years. I do my exercises and gymnastics. I also try to keep my weight, such things. Sometimes I treat myself to a glassy wine. Nevertheless, at my age you no longer know what the next day will bring.

Would there be another dream role next to the Brandner Kaspar that would still irritate you?
Halmer: I have never had a dream role. You look at the screenplays and hope for the best. I don’t need the dream roles like before, i.e. Hamlet or King Lear. But I would like to play in a serious, well -made comedy again. But someone has to write that first. And there is not one like Helmut Dietl as often.