BGT Presents New Play Amare Depicting Different Types of Love

The Berliner Grundtheater (BGT) English Language Theatre Company will put on its next show Amare on Thursday 6, Friday 7 and Saturday 8 February 2025 at Lycée Michel Rodange in Luxembourg-Merl (30 Bld. Pierre Dupong), with performances at 19:30 each evening.

Amare, written and co-directed by eighteen-year-old Hanne Siebens, is described as a play portraying six different types of love, as defined by the ancient Greeks. Through a series of sketches and monologues, love between married couples, family, new young love and love that endures after death are among those presented on stage. See https://chronicle.lu/category/amateur-dramatics-choral/52714-bgt-to-put-on-new-play-about-love-in-february

Debut playwriter Hanne Siebens is a final-year student at the International School of Luxembourg (ISL) where she is studying IB drama. Described by BGT as "a young and promising writer and actress", she also co-directs her play with BGT co-founder Tony Kingston. Chronicle.lu recently had the opportunity to speak with Hanne about Amare and the process of getting the play from paper to stage.

Chronicle.lu: How long did it take to write Amare and how helpful were the (BGT organised) summer workshops for you in developing the text?

Hannah Siebens: I started writing the play almost two years ago. It sat dormant for some time until I pitched the idea to Tony very soon after ‘Daisy Pulls It Off’. We did some workshops during the beginning of summer 2024. I then went off to write the full script during that summer; however, there have been many changes to the script throughout the rehearsal process. It has been almost like devising a play in terms of process, as the script has continued to develop.

The workshops we did were incredibly helpful. I was somewhat stuck on how to connect the stories and how to develop certain storylines, so the workshops provided me with ideas that I would never have thought about on my own. That is the beauty of collaboration. As a young writer I think it is important to try and get your work out there to actors, because it gives you a better idea of how your writing will look on stage. Sometimes you can get lost in the writing aspect and forget how it will appear to an audience. The workshops were incredibly helpful and I am grateful for the talented actors who gave up their time to come and help.

Chronicle.lu: What was the inspiration behind the play?

Hannah Siebens: I often write things down to process feelings or events that have happened, as many people do. I realised at one point that I had this collection of scenes whose common theme was love. I decided to do more research into love and since I am also quite interested in Ancient Greek mythology, I eventually came across the different types of love as described by the Ancient Greeks. I used these to categorise the different storylines in the play. During my research, I also came across the myth of Cupid and Psyche. It was intriguing to me that even a god as powerful as Cupid can be overcome by the very human emotion of love. I decided to incorporate the myth into the play and made Cupid a type of “orchestrator” of all the love stories.
Tony [Kingston] always describes the strands of stories as ‘snapshots’, which I think is a perfect description. As time went on, I gathered more stories from people and now the play has become a wonderful mixture of love.

Chronicle.lu: Tell us about the experience of putting the play on stage. What were the most challenging and rewarding aspects for you?

Hannah Siebens: I think the most rewarding aspect has been seeing the words on the page come to life. During one of the early workshops, we gave the actors a bit of the script and it was surreal to see it performed. A challenge has been making the storyline cohesive. Since the script originally was a collection of scenes (almost like a review style play), it took some time to create the relationships between the characters to connect the stories together. I have learned a lot about story building because of it.

Chronicle.lu: You are no stranger to performing on stage. How different was the behind-the-stage experience for you?

Hannah Siebens: The rehearsal process has been completely different. I am used to coming into a rehearsal space and having to know my lines and taking directions. But now I was sitting on the other end of the room, figuring out what needed to be added and taken out of the script and how I wanted actors to perform. It was a bit surreal to be honest. I discovered this year, through both IB theatre classes and Amare workshops and rehearsals, that directing and writing is something I am interested in, but it has been a long process of learning how it all works. I have spent many rehearsals and workshops observing how Tony works and just learning from him. It is like I am this little sponge taking up all of the knowledge, it has been a lot of fun.

Although I love performing, I do think that the behind-the-stage is incredibly interesting too, because you get to choose what the audience sees and the atmospheres that are created. As a writer it also feels fulfilling when cast members come up to you to ask about the characters and how I envisioned them. I basically get to rant about these characters I have created in my head and our talented cast will help make them come to life. It is wonderful.

Chronicle.lu: Have you previous experience with BGT and what influenced the decision to stage the play in collaboration with the theatre company?

Hannah Siebens: Yes, I have worked with BGT before. My first play with BGT was ‘Daisy Pulls It Off’. I enjoyed working with Tony, he is very detail oriented, which I appreciate. I also knew him through FEST, which my school participates in. I knew Tony was open to new scripts and working with young writers, so I approached him with my idea.

Chronicle.lu: You are in your final year of school. Would you like to pursue a career in writing/theatre going forward?

Hannah Siebens: Yes, definitely. I have always known I would want to go into a creative field, but working on Amare has opened up a whole new area of theatre that I did not know I would be so passionate about. I have always written, but mostly poetry and short stories. This was the first time I sat down and mixed my two passions, writing and theatre, to create a play. It’s been incredibly rewarding and it is something I could definitely see myself continuing to do in the future. In terms of university, my goal is to go to Ireland to study Drama and Theatre, but Creative Writing is also on my list.

Tickets cost €15 for adults, €10 for students. For reservations email: bgt.lu.tickets@gmail.com