Working with Mrs Markram was one of the best things I have ever done. We started rehearsing on the second day of our exchange. Half of our group still suffered from the effects of a 16 hour flight and everyone was tired. Nevertheless Mrs. Markram managed to motivate us. In my opinion she brought out the best in everyone. Despite the tight schedule and hard work she kept us engaged and focused.
As our director she could have very well just told us what to do and not listen to our opinions but she always told us not to switch off and asked us for our ideas and opinions. This is one of the many reasons why it is so wonderful to work with her. Despite her being a very capable director she still values everyones opinion and can admit when she is wrong. Because of this we managed to create a piece that everyone could be proud of in only three days. After this we started touring with the piece which proved to be challenging yet again. We had created the piece with the stage in the Volkstheater in mind so that we were facing three directions.
Now we not only had to adapt to different stage sizes but also to the question how many directions we had to face. With Mrs. Markram’s help we not only managed that but we also managed to include our surroundings in a way that brought out the best in every place. This was especially so in the Sisyphos. Without a real stage to perform we all wondered how we could perform there without the piece losing its magic. Mrs. Makram showed us how to not only adapt to those circumstances but also how we could include the surroundings to make it seem as if the piece was written for exactly that place.
In the end we acted in between and with the audience and included for example the lake in our boat scene by performing on the bridge and throwing the red dress into the water. All of this led to a performance which was in my opinion very impressing. Working under pressure like this led of course to a lot of stress for everyone. But despite of this Mrs. Markram always managed to reasure us that everything that happened during rehearsals stayed there and would not have any impact on our relationships during our free time. Because of that she managed to be a strict director whom we all respected and a caring and open woman that we all could trust and rely on. All of this could have not been possible without Mrs. Markram’s insight and talent and her ability to believe in us even if we ourselves did not and therefore giving us the strenght to do our best.
Written by Judith Grill