Homage to Erich Vock and Hubert Spiess The last performance of two Swiss superstars
Tonight, the curtain falls for the very last time: Erich Vock and Hubert Spiess bid farewell to the stage with the "Kleine Niederdorfoper" at Zurich's Bernhard Theater. A tribute to the artistic duo.
No time? blue News summarizes for you
- Erich Vock and Hubert Spiess decided some time ago that their stage career would definitely come to an end in February 2025.
- "We're thinking much more about the finite nature of life these days," says Spiess. "After the end of our working lives comes the final phase of our lives."
- The artistic couple - who are also a couple in their private lives - have brought more than 90 theater productions to the stage together as actors, directors or producers over the past three decades.
- Tonight, Vock (as farmer Heiri) and Spiess (junk dealer Schaggi Baumann) will be on stage for the very last time at the Bernhard Theater in Zurich as actors in the successful play "Die kleinen Niederdorfoper".
"We're excited to see what it will be like," said Hubert Spiess a year ago when I visited the artist couple for blue News in their apartment in Zurich - see the video above - and asked what would happen after the last performance.
"For me, the joy prevails," added Erich Vock. He continued: "We want to enjoy life while we still have each other."
Tonight is the night: two great theater makers step into the spotlight for the last time. Vock and Spiess can be seen one last time in the "Kleine Niederdorfoper" - at the Bernhard Theater in Zurich, which has been sold out for months.
The day after, a celebration with friends and companions is on the program. The invitation lists all 93 productions that Erich Vock and Hubert Spiess have been involved in as actors, directors, producers or writers over the last 32 years.
Erich Vock: "Farmer Heiri is my most important role"
Momoll, you can say with a clear conscience: Erich Vock is a Swiss superstar. If he heard that, he would probably laugh and say: "Gaht's no?"
But I stand by my statement.
Vock is a character actor. He has a lot of comic talent. He can play stranded existences as well as spitballs, drag queens, fairytale characters or the never-ending dream of a little happiness.
"Playing Heiri in the 'Kleine Niederdorfoper' is my most important role," says Erich Vock, looking back on his career. "Ever since I can remember, my dream as an actor has been to play comedic roles in dialect."
After graduating from high school, the now 62-year-old attended the Zurich Acting Academy. He was then engaged at the Stadttheater Hildesheim, Germany, when his phone rang one evening in 1988.
The well-known theater producer Edi Baur from Zurich was looking for a young dialect actor - urgently. A short time later, Erich Vock thrilled audiences and the press alike as the pale youth in the "Kleine Niederdorfoper".
Hubert Spiess: "Erich totally made me laugh"
On July 4, 1993, Erich Vock's private life also took a decisive turn. A young actor from Austria was keen to get to know him.
"I saw Erich on stage and he made me laugh so much," recalls Hubert Spiess, now 60 years old. "There was something there for me straight away."
A delicate little plant called love grows. The two men feel their way towards each other and become a couple - partly because they have a shared vision and yet don't always agree.
"Of course we also argue. For me, there is no 24-hour harmony. There are conflicting opinions, and you have to express them. A relationship is not a make-believe world," says Erich Vock.
Today, after almost 30 years in a relationship and over 20 years of registered partnership and marriage, humor has remained an important cement in their relationship - both in private and on stage.
The only Swiss popular actor of world fame
From 1995, the couple run the Zurich Fairytale Stage together. While Vock is mainly active on stage, Spiess also works as a director and producer. The two are also politically active and campaign for the Partnership Act.
Between 2000 and 2002, Vock can be seen in the SRF sitcom "Fertig lustig". Almost at the same time, he became world-famous as the Ricola man. The first TV commercial is broadcast in 1998.
The setting is always the same: Someone claims that it was his fellow countrymen who invented the herbal sweets.
Until Erich Vock suddenly appears and shouts "Who invented it? The Swiss!" The commercial is subsequently also broadcast in Finland, Australia, England, Mexico, China, Brazil and Greenland.
When Erich Vock and Hubert Spiess wanted to bring "Die kleinen Niederdorfoper" back to the stage in 2009 for the first time since the era of Ruedi Walter and Margrit Rainer, they lost their laughter - at least at first.
Critical voices are raised. A few days before the premiere, the Tages-Anzeiger published a survey in which all respondents replied that "you shouldn't do that".
Spiess: "Think more about the finite nature of life"
Nevertheless, many people want to see how Erich Vock does as farmer Heiri. "We already knew how many tickets we had sold, which reassured us," says Hubert Spiess in Blick.
The critics were proved wrong. The new edition was a success: all 106 performances were sold out. In 2011, 2013 and 2019, Vock sings "Dä Heiri hät es Chalb verchauft" again for weeks in front of sold-out audiences.
But now is definitely enough.
Tonight is the last time Vock (as farmer Heiri) and Spiess (junk dealer Schaggi Baumann) will appear on a theater stage. It's possible that their eyes will be wet or even a few tears will roll down their cheeks at the end - certainly for Vock ("I'm built close to the water") and in the audience anyway.
And yes, the standing ovation at the end of the play is never-ending. It didn't last week either, when I watched the "Kleine Niederdorfoper" for the last time.
Vock wants to pursue his passion for cooking in future
And no, Erich Vock and Hubert Spiess won't be bored in the future either.
"We're thinking much more about the finite nature of life these days," says Spiess in the "Glückspost"."After the end of our working lives comes the last phase of life."
Vock wants to pursue his passion for cooking more intensively in future, but above all he wants to enjoy the peace and quiet.
The couple have resolved to "go for a brisk walk for at least an hour every day", they tell the "Bieler Tagblatt" newspaper. Vock and Spiess first plan to spend some time at their shared home in Andalusia and then in Spiess' home town in Austria.
Spiess: "Erich explodes like a pressure cooker"
Before the final curtain falls tonight at the Bernhard Theater in Zurich, one last question:
Can the two men, who make thousands and thousands of people laugh with their stage presence even after more than 30 years and continue to inspire storms of enthusiasm, also be really ugly for once?
Yes, they can.
"Erich explodes like a pressure cooker, but is soon completely peaceful again," reveals Hubert Spiess in the Bieler Tagblatt, while Erich Vock smiles.
