Low German video series is back with new skits, readings
The pandemic is well behind us, but the antics of Mitsch and Sus are back in the spotlight.
In 2021, Flatland Theatre Company’s Tina Fehr-Kehler and Angela Klassen got in touch with their Low German heritage to create a pair of alter egos and do a few slice-of-life skits.
“Mitsch is a bit of a silly character and Sus is the long-suffering friend,” explains Fehr-Kehler, who plays Mitsch.
“We did five little videos,” says Klassen, a.k.a. Sus, explaining that those first sketches detailed life under COVID-19 with tongue firmly in cheek—one saw Sus sewing together a face mask that would allow them to continue to eat sunflower seeds while wearing it.
“I did a lot of the writing but then we also had Conrad [Stoesz, from the Mennonite Heritage Archives] and Andrew Unger [a Mennonite humorist] as part of it,” recalls Fehr-Kehler. “It was a lot of fun.”
Their Waut de kuckuck? YouTube channel drew hundreds of subscribers and tens of thousands of views.
“People just loved them,” Klassen says.
“And apparently we’re really big in Paraguay,” adds Fehr-Kehler with a chuckle.
Those handful of videos complete, the pair went on to take a bit of a breather from the act to focus on other creative endeavours, save for live performances at the Plautdietsche Tietfedrief event in Neubergthal.
Their show there last year inspired them to create new videos once again, the first of which was posted on their new channel, Flatlands Tiet Vedrief, in December.
That one saw them acting out the vignette Audee (Goodbye) by Low German writer Arnold Dyck detailing the long-winded parting ritual between two friends.
In their second video just before Christmas, they presented Reuben Epp’s Low German translation of The Night Before Christmas.
Their third skit is expected to drop any day now and it will detail a very touchy subject.
“It’s about being a ‘bad’ Mennonite,” Klassen says. “It starts out with Mitsch admitting she doesn’t like verenika.”
The dumpling dish is a staple in Mennonite households, so it’s an admission that causes a fair bit of playful shock between the two friends.
This most recent batch of videos includes English subtitles to make them more accessible to everyone.
“We wanted people who maybe aren’t as confident in their Low German to still be able to watch and understand and enjoy and maybe learn a little bit,” says Klassen, pointing out that the goal with these videos and the live performances has always been to simply promote the language in a playful way. “A big part of it is preserving the language and just doing fun things in Low German.”
“For me, it’s actually bettering my Low German and helping me keep it up,” adds Fehr-Kehler.
And while comedy is at the heart of many of these skits, Fehr-Kehler hopes they’ll be able to broaden their scope in the future.
“What we want to produce are things that show Low German is a versatile language that can be used for a lot of things,” she says. “Most people who go to Low German plays expect it to be funny, but my goal is to eventually produce a play that’s not a comedy.”
“When people talk about German being funny, for me, it’s just the language of life,” observes Klassen, noting it can capture the breadth of human experience just as well as any other language.
They’re already working to translate The Secret Treaty: A Lost Story of Ojibwe and Mennonite Neighbours, a graphic novel by Dave Scott and Jonathan Dyck detailing the handshake agreement between the Mennonite settlers to the West Reserve and the Indigenous people already there.
“We’ve asked permission to translate it into Low German and then create a video about it,” Fehr-Kehler says, noting they hope to release that later this year.
Otherwise, the pair intend to keep their eyes and ears open for inspiration for future videos. Head to their YouTube page to catch them as they’re released.
