NewLooking back · Bad Hersfeld 2016

Der Kredit (The Loan)

Premiere November 2026: Looking back, a look back over the years.

In summer 2016 I played in “Der Kredit” by Jordi Galcerán at the Bad Hersfeld Festival, directed by Martin Woelffer. We performed in the open air, on the meadow next to the abbey ruin, from 11 to 28 August 2016.

The play

I played a bank branch manager. Rudolf Krause played the customer Anton Herberg, Rieke Warzog the secretary. The music was by Matthias Trippner.

Herberg wants a loan but has no collateral. The branch manager says no. Herberg then threatens to seduce the manager’s wife. From that moment the balance of power shifts, until in the end the roles are reversed. The play is about money, power and what a person needs to be happy. And there is a lot of laughter.

I already knew the role. I had played the banker around 80 times in Berlin and Hamburg. In Bad Hersfeld we rethought the play, with Rudolf Krause, with whom I had already been on stage in “The Comedy of Errors” in 2015.

Special thanks to Martin Woelffer. In Berlin and Hamburg he directed the play again and again with great love and brilliance. In Bad Hersfeld he also took up the fight with Dieter Wedel. Martin won.

The interview at Café Landlust

My neighbours in the little Johannesstraße were Sabine and Joachim Heil with their Café Landlust. This short interview about “Der Kredit” was recorded there during the festival (in German).

▶ Watch the interview on YouTube

Ten years later

Right now I am on tour across Germany with the Hamburger Kammerspiele and “Die fetten Jahre sind vorbei” (The Edukators). I play Hardenberg, a millionaire who doesn’t really know what to do with all his money either.

In “Der Kredit” the banker decides about someone else’s money. Hardenberg has more money than he will ever need. Both plays ask what money does to a person, and in both the audience is allowed to laugh.

Die fetten Jahre sind vorbei » Read the post on “unbequemes” (in German) »

Sources: Hersfelder Zeitung, 20 May 2016 and Hersfelder Zeitung, 11 August 2016.