Classics by the Sea

In 1999, Berlin director Jürgen Kern and his wife were walking past the Koserow Church when they met Pastor Winfried Wenzel. During their impromptu conversation, Jürgen Kern blurted out: “Someone should put on a play here.”
“Then go ahead,” came the equally spontaneous and decisive reply. This was the immediate starting point for a successful theatre project.
The very term “classic” is a mark of quality, reflecting the meaning of the Latin word classicus: belonging to the highest rank, exemplary. Alongside such “classics” as Romeo and Juliet, Mary Stuart, William Tell, Emilia Galotti, Nathan the Wise, Minna von Barnhelm and Faust, the repertoire therefore also includes plays by Brecht (Life of Galileo, performed in a church for the first time), Dürrenmatt (The Visit) and Samuel Beckett (Waiting for Godot). Even a cursory familiarity with these works gives some idea of the creative adaptation required to stage plays originally written for large casts on a makeshift platform measuring only a few square metres.
The actors’ enthusiasm and an unwavering commitment to quality have helped this theatre series earn a reputation that resonates far beyond the region. Its reach extends even to Saxony-Anhalt and the Goethe-founded theatre in Bad Lauchstädt, with its 400 seats, where the “Klassik am Meer” ensemble is a welcome guest every year.