This Calamity is not a amazon but rather a stubborn, down-to-earth gal under whose rawhide talk lures a sensitive skin. Hentschel jumps into roles and borrows identities. With considerable physical energy and just a few curious props around her all-round bicycle (which is horse, mobile home and wagon-train in one) she tells the story –or stories- of Calamity. She awakens all her dreams and calamities to life. It is a cosmos full of spirits and other shadowy characters: funny, bawdy, tender and touching. |
Fiction or reality: who was this woman whose life was filmed in Hollywood with Jean Arthur, Jane Russell or Doris Day? This woman whips all prejudices. At first glance a gun-toting adventuress, Calamity Jane doesn’t fit as feminist or dumb blond. She is the manifestation of the legendary Wildwest, the hubris of human civilisation, coupled with its secret fear of failure. Regine Hentschel is Calamity Jane for an hour an a half, a fantastic one-woman show from the State Theatre Stuttgart. An outdoor spectacle written and directed by James Lyons; a subtle production, rich with associations. It is the forum for a first-class comedienne and actress with a touching talent for those tones in-between. Never let the herd know it’s being driven. A motto which also applies to human cattle, and which Calamity Jane has staked a claim on. Or had to, otherwise she might never have survived as a female scout. Born (probably) 1852 in Missouri, Martha Jane Cannary became a legend in her own time and stirred the imagination of Dime Novel authors: either as a hard-drinking amazon in men’s clothes, or as an orphaned pioneer girl who lead a life as bull-whacker and Wild-West show entertainer. Is life worth living? Strangely she only asks herself this question when things are going bad; that’s probably why the answer is always negative. A live road-movie, rated M: Must-see. |
