Reading of ‘Adressat Unbekannt’

The reading of ‘Adressat Unbekannt’ by Kressmann Taylor will take place on Friday, 15 November 2024 in the morning for the 9th and 10th grades.

In this correspondence between two friends, the Jewish gallery owner Max Eisenstein from California and his German partner and friend Martin Schulse, who returns to Germany in 1933 to help reshape the German Reich, the audience experiences the systematic alienation and the fatal effects that National Socialism triggers in each of them in a haunting and intense way.

“Habits begin as threads and end as ropes ’ says a Chinese proverb. At a time like ours, when the European community seems to be increasingly susceptible to new totalitarian vibes, this exchange of letters shows how quickly people can lose themselves in a labyrinth of duties, ideals, the tension between loyalties, love and hate, identity and its loss, fear of the foreign and of the state and its violence. A labyrinth from which – if he is not vigilant – there is no escape.

The author:

Kathrine Kressmann Taylor, born in Portland in 1903, worked as a journalist and advertising copywriter after graduating from university. In 1938, she published the epistolary novel ‘Addressee Unknown’, which is probably based on some letters that were actually written.

’ Addressee unknown ’

A reading with Nicolás Artajo and Hugo Grimm

Directed by: Iris Artajo

At the piano: Vera Claus

Length: 60-75 minutes

Iris Artajo (director):

Iris Artajo grew up in different countries and languages. She trained as an actress in Paris and Berlin. She worked at various theatres in Berlin before founding the theatre groups ‘Las Tres Lolas’ and ‘Artres’ in 1998. Her work as a director focuses on the connection between literature, music and theatre.

She also works as a narrator and as a dubbing director and dialogue writer in many film and television productions.

Vera Claus (piano):

Vera Claus studied piano and composition in Moscow and worked for the

for the Jewish theatre as musical director and pianist. She has lived in Berlin for many years and has accompanied numerous artists with her piano playing. Since 1998 she has been instrumental in the development of Iris Artajo’s literary-musical-theatre productions.

Nicolàs Artajo (Max Eisenstein):

Nicolás comes from a Polish-Spanish-German family, has been in front of the camera since the age of three and has appeared in over 30 film and television productions. In addition to his acting work, he is also a radio play and audio book narrator, presenter, dubbing artist and director. In 2021, he was awarded the Golden Record by the German Music Industry Association for the radio play ‘The Little Prince’. Nicolàs lives in Berlin.

Hugo Grimm (Martin Schulse):

Hugo was born in Tanzania and studied acting at the State University of Music and Performing Arts in Stuttgart. There he performed at the Staatstheater Stuttgart, among others, before taking on his first major television role at ZDF. Since then, he has appeared in front of the camera for over 40 film and television productions (ARD, ZDF, RTL, Sat.1, Pro7, Netflix) in Germany and abroad. His repertoire also includes dubbing and radio voice-overs as well as dancing and singing. Hugo lives in Berlin and Brussels.