#fratte

Fratte gang I haven't forgotten about you. Here's a quick redraw in the midst of commissions and work.

"hans hermann von katte through the eyes of frederick ii (pockmarks like constellations)"

I had a vision and a school night 🥹🥹

Fratte wip

Ok, this is late, but, on March 8th, I went to see the play Katte: La Tragédie de l'amant du prince de Prusse, by Jean-Marie Besset, at the Théâtre de l'Épée de Bois in France.

I'm still waiting for my screenplay to arrive, without which I couldn't write a proper review (since my knowledge of French is close to non-existent), but here are a few quick thoughts:

Overall I liked it. This is probably one of the few modern adaptations which had Fritz and Katte as proper lovers instead of some straight-washing nonsense. There were one or two scenes where they're practically making out on stage.

The play was written in Alexandrine (the preeminent French verse form for dramatic and narrative poetry, which reached its highest development under Jean Racine, a.k.a one of Fritz's favorite French writers). The lines sounded very pleasant since everything rhymes.

Main characters are: Fritz, Katte, Wilhelmine, FW, SD, Seckendorff and Müller. If I'm not mistaken, it consists of a total of five acts, like most Alexandrines do. The plot stretches from early 1730 to Küstrin. The official synopsis goes like: "Kingdom of Prussia, 1730. At Potsdam Palace, the soldier-king Frederick William discovers the unthinkable: a forbidden affair between his son Frederick, the crown prince, and the officer Hans Hermann von Katte, lieutenant of the King's Guard. The sovereign's wrath is terrible. Heads will roll."

On characterization: There's some accuracy, I think. Katte was portrayed as confident, flamboyant and knowledgeable. Fritz was really cute. I'd say this FW is a lot more terrifying than in history. The actor was superb, of course; it's just historically, FW was volatile and explosive, but here he feels darker and creepier.

They actually did their research! There's a scene where Fritz was "thrown to the ground and forced to kiss his father’s feet [Koser, Friedrich der Grosse als Kronprinz, p. 29.]," as well as the infamous red cloak, and that Fritz and Katte were put into the same prisoner clothes before the execution. Those are some nice details that stood out to me.

There's also a scene, on the night of the execution, where our star-crossed lovers were given an opportunity to bid each other proper farewell. It was, though historically inaccurate, quite sweet. I couldn't decipher Fritz's lines except "Je t'aime."

And here are some photos I took on that day! It's held in a small theatre near the Château de Vincenne. While it looked a bit shabby on the outside, the interior was really classic.