A look back at FEATS 2023
Here we go again. Another Whitsun weekend and finally another FEATS! The first competitive festival since 2019, hosted this time round by FEST Frankfurt in nearby Bad Homburg. While the Hamburg Players were not officially invited to the main stage due to the rotation system, we still had a top spot on the reservation list. As it turned out, we were indeed asked to jump in for a withdrawing group. Our plan was to revive a few scenes from our February production Love/Sick by John Cariani. The perfect solution, it seemed, because each of these hilarious scenes about the joy and failure of love and relationships works on its own, even without the context of the complete play. Unfortunately, when the FEATS deadline came and went at the end of 2022, we were still waiting for rights for this particular one-off venture and therefore, sadly, had to pull out.
Everybody Gets A Second Chance
Of course, in a twist of fate, we did get the rights in the end, which meant that when the festival was just around the corner, the Hamburg Players decided to attend with scenes from Love/Sick as part of the FEATS Fringe, a section of the festival scheduled in the afternoons outside of and unrelated to the main stage evening shows. Martina Plieger and Harald Djürken had already planned to visit Bad Homburg anyway, which meant that ‘their’ scene ‘Lunch and Dinner’ was the one we went with. In addition, it was a bit of a redemptive opportunity for them: during the February run, the two of them had only been able to perform together publicly at the dress rehearsal and the premiere – but then had to drop out one after another due to illness.
Our 2023 FEATS Fringe cast and crew
In a spur-of the-moment idea our chair Valerie Doyle, who rarely misses FEATS, suggested to add another scene: ‘The Singing Telegram’ in which Harald played the Telegram Man; Valerie offered to take over the counterpart herself. Okay, why not double the fun?! As Valerie was also heavily involved in our regular June production (The Children), she basically sat down to learn her lines on the train to Bad Homburg! All the while, Julie Spanswick had joined the Fringe crew as stage manager.
A Walk In The Park
The Hamburg Players were scheduled for Saturday 27th May at 4:30pm – the last group to perform that day. Excellent, more time for preparation! On the performing day we had an early call at the Bad Homburg Youth Hostel (the location of the Fringe) to check out the space and clarify what we needed for the performance. The Fringe team was absolutely lovely and helpful. After a relaxing breakfast in the sun and a stroll through the centre of town - Harald constantly running lines with both Martina and Valerie - we took a walk through the Kurpark. Martina and Julie checked out an outdoor sculpture exhibition while Valerie and Harald conquered a bench to rehearse their little scene.
Bad Homburg’s Kurpark
The Show Must Go On
Taking into account that it was one of hottest days in May, our hopes for a large audience were very low. But, to our surprise the room was quite packed when we arrived and more people were showing up, including our FEATS friends from Brussels, and even the festival adjudicator came to watch us perform. All the pent-up tension was suddenly gone. After Julie introduced us we managed to do our two scenes without any big hiccups – and the audience loved it. We received a standing ovation and were, needless to say, absolutely thrilled!
After the Fringe show
Help!
There is no way that a festival like this can be pulled off without a large number of volunteers – people who are in the theatre from the early morning till late at night. The Hamburg Players will face the same challenge when it’s our turn to host the festival again in Hamburg in 2025.
When this year the organizing group (FEST) encountered problems to find enough helpers, the entire FEATS community pulled together and many members from the participating groups jumped in to offer a helping hand. So did Julie, Martina and Valerie. They handed out badges for the performing groups during the day, provided general information for people showing up at the theatre or sold programmes and raffle tickets at night. In addition to the work on stage this is also very fulfilling and truly reflects the spirit of FEATS.
Julie volunteering at the hospitality desk
The Winner Takes It All
Back to the main festival: it certainly was a good one. The setting and topics of the plays varied greatly from suburban utopia to a fancy hotel; from the magic of northern lights to houseguests from hell. But how does the old saying go? Save the best for last! ‘Theater de WAANzin’ from Ghent performed their entry Desperados on the final day and were absolutely brilliant. A story about four middle-aged men dressed up as cowboys and imitating what cowboys do while reflecting on life using hilarious props as substitutes for guns, fishing rods and horses. The group won three awards in the end including best production. With the award ceremony, always the highlight of the festival, FEATS 2023 came to a glorious end. It was a wonderful weekend in the historic city of Bad Homburg. We are really looking forward to FEATS 2024 in Antwerp – of which we have fond memories from when we last visited back in 2018
Harald Djürken