After the death of his wife, Aaf Brandt Corstius’ father, writer Hugo Brandt Corstius (1935-2014), decides to move to America. He then sits there all the time writing in the attic, while his three young children play in the basement. This is one of the wonderful scenes from the theater solo Welcome to my pathetic childhood.
The title says it all: Aaf Brandt Corstius (1975) shares memories of how she grew up without a mother, but with a father with instructions for use. Hugo Brandt Corstius was a distant man, who barely lifted a finger in the household and hired one nanny after another for his offspring (never the same for more than a year, because bonding was out of the question). His character was in stark contrast to that of the mother, who happily cooked and made long guest lists for parties.
Father expects a high degree of self-reliance from his children. In the meantime, his daughter is terrified that he too will die and develops all kinds of compulsive neuroses from that fear. The stories about this period are poignant, but the comic wording and angles make the performance never too heavy.
Wooden assembly
The monologues are interspersed with snapshots and TV fragments (from ‘Little house on the prairie’ to ‘Beverly Hills 90210’), which give a picture of the time in which Brandt Corstius grew up. It’s a shame that director Kiki Jaski stitched these scenes together rather woodenly. The transitions are not smooth and if, for example, the performer is listening to a song and nothing else happens, it feels directionless.
It has been known for a long time that Aaf Brandt Corstius is a gifted storyteller. This is apparent from her popular columns, books and plays. But with Welcome to my pathetic childhood she proves that she also stands her ground on stage. She chats with a spectator, does some dance moves and, like a charming performer, pulls you into her ‘pathetic youth’.
#Aaf #Brandt #Corstius #charms #personal #solo