Berlin Love Tour is a pain in the ass to do, people think you are mad, it hurts your back, drunk people have a pop at you, and it takes loads of work behind the scenes to look seamless but here’s one reason why I (Hilary) continue to do it.

After one show ended, a German woman followed me off and tapped me vigorously on the shoulder. I thought “here we go, she’s gonna rant and point out grammatical errors”. But she could barely speak, she was in floods of tears and said “I think this is the best thing I have ever seen about my country”. So then I joined in with the tears.
This is a woman who has probably with been called a Nazi many times in her lifetime, just cos she is German. 
Germans don’t see many shows where people tell you how much you love their country and how one of their men stole your heart. You can write all the fancy reviews/articles, give all the awards (or not) but this is why we do what we do. We’re chasing that elusive moment when you touch one person enough to change their day. That’s why we put up with the loons and the naysayers. 

So, if you can, help us by re-posting or re-tweeting or re-shouting about our fundit campaign. We will be very grateful and you know you will be doing more than helping us pay the great team we work with. You will help us to try and reach out to people and change their day, even if only a little.

Thanks to everyone who has helped so far. Wir lieben euch alle x

http://www.fundit.ie/project/berlin-love-tour-on-tour

We at Playgroup are DELIGHTED to announce that BERLIN LOVE TOUR is finally coming home to Cork! Fresh from our sell out run at the Fierce Festival in Birmingham in March, the show will be presented as part of the jam packed exciting programme at Cork Midsummer Festival2012. The programme is the first from brand new Artistic Director, our very own Tom Creed and boy is it a good one. 

The show will run from the 19th to the 30th June at 9pm nightly, meeting point is outside the Triskel Arts Centre. The show is 2 hours long with no interval. Don’t forget to dress for the weather!

Check out details of the Festival programme here.

Check out booking details for Berlin Love Tour here. 

Have a look at our lovely promotional video for the show here. 

Over a number of years I’ve been listening to Tom and Hilary talking about the Berlin Love Tour idea, but it’s only been in the last few months that they’ve been able to bring me on board to write the text. It’s been an intense process of writing reams and writing quickly, of long distance skype chats and early morning flights to Dublin.

Writing someone else’s idea is difficult. This process has been about constant refinement. I’ve lost track of how many versions of the script there are! Now I’m a big believer in the idea that writing really is all about rewriting but when you’re writing for yourself you are emotionally connected to the original idea and you know where you want to be, even if you don’t know how to get there. Whereas my idea of what this show is, and should be, has shifted repeatedly during this process as I’ve tried to understand Tom and Hilary’s inspiration and the historical and personal strands that underpin the show.

I feel like I could navigate my way around Berlin easily now, even though, I’m embarrassed to admit: I’ve never actually been there. We talked early in the process about whether that’s a problem but really the version of Berlin we’re presenting is an imagined one. It’s almost a plus that while Tom and Hilary are steeped in the place, I have needed them to explain Berlin and their fascination with it to me. Hopefully, that then helps me to pass on that spark to an audience in the text.

Memorial, remembering, forgetting, getting stuck, moving on, understanding, failing to understand, seeing ghosts, breaking hearts and sewing things back together. These are the things that Berlin Love Tour is about for me. It’s also about going on a journey and seeingDublin in a different way. So, let’s hope that the rain stays away… 

Lynda Radley