When the first spectators were admitted, the painter was still standing on the stage and painting the last scenery. There were benches for spectators on the unpaved slope. And every pyrotechnic effect was an experiment with an unknown outcome. The first Störtebeker Festival began on July 3, 1993 in Ralswiek on the island of Rügen with a great deal of personal commitment and passion. Back then, nobody could have imagined the fantastic success of the theater show.
When it rained, finding space turned into a slippery adventure
The natural stage in Ralswiek is located directly on the water of the Jasmunder Bodden. From 1959 to 1961 theater was played there for a few weeks in the summer. Even in GDR times - the early 80s - there were still a few performances. Today's Mayor Herbert Knüppel recalls the beginnings of a green meadow on which a few benches had been set up in GDR times. Two small stages and an unpaved auditorium. When the weather was bad, it was always difficult to get to your seat, according to Knüppel.
The first spectators surprised the scenery painter at work
After reunification, the community of Ralswiek wanted to revive the stage and found the ideal theater makers in the Hick family. Peter and Ruth Hick came to Rügen with their daughter Anna in 1993 and turned the unpaved hillside into a grandstand with a good 8,800 seats. Again and again the helpers found relics from the old theater days during the conversion work, reports Anna Hick today. According to Hick, you could find bottles and ceramic parts from the 1950s with Störtebeker symbols and even children's toys. Anna Hick was only nine years old when the first adventure "How a Pirate Becomes" actually premiered in the summer of 1993. Hick remembers the adventurous premiere and the goal was canceled when the first spectators were already admitted.
"Where is the campsite please?"
Some anecdotes that have come together over the years are also adventurous:like that of the elderly couple who, in the middle of the eagle show, rolled their caravan onto the stage via a side entrance and asked for the Banzelvitz campsite. The falconer incorporated the couple into the performance, much to the amusement of the audience.
Every explosion an experiment
Now he knows how to do it. A lot of experiments had to be done in the beginning, reports Fred Brautigam.Pyrotechnician Fred Brautigam is one of the few in today's Störtebeker ensemble who has been there from the start and in every pirate season to date. At that time, with every explosion, one asked oneself whether it would work like that, says Brautigam. His first cog fight on the water, including the sinking of a ship, was new territory for him. Today, Brautigam and his team blow up four kilograms of gunpowder – per performance. More than 1.5 tons of fireworks explode in an entire season.
From theater fun to economic factor
In general, everything has become much bigger on the natural stage. More than 150 participants are at work every evening in front of and behind the stage. The team includes 30 horses, as well as four cogs, eagles and their own stunt crew. Every year, the Hick family invests several million euros in the latest Störtebeker production. Whether as an actor or a helper behind the stage – the festival has become an important factor on Rügen as an employer for people in the region. In the coming year, the pirate will be "on life and death" - probably again with exciting stories on and off the stage.