My heart - my dog

My heart — my dog is the dramatic dialogue between two lovers, which in this moving compilation of letters testifies to the life, successes, fears and also the suffering of Anton Chekhov and his beloved wife Olga Knipper. The two were united by an intimate friendship, which later resulted in a passionate love and extraordinary marriage.

Only five years before Chekhov died, actress Olga Knipper met the great playwright of Russia. At that time, he was already seriously ill with tuberculosis and lived far away from Moscow, in Crimea and moved around today's Eastern Ukraine, while Knipper was employed at the Moscow Artists' Theatre.

From the physical distance, an intensive correspondence developed which, despite desire and all the longing, never lost its humor, lightness or even its poetry. Olga Knipper and Anton Chekhov were united not only by their love, but also by their passion for theatre. They were inspiration and home to each other, lovers... so close so far away...

This entertaining evening is more than just a simple read! It is also a scenic production and plays with music. Pieces by Sting, Rio Reiser, Frankie Valli and others can be heard in their very own interpretations. Arranged by Teresa Weissbach and Christoph Tomanek. In autumn 2016, the idea for “Mein Herz — mein Hund” was born by Teresa Weissbach and Christoph Tomanek during their joint work at the Hamburger Kammerspiele for the premiere of “DIVEN.” “Mein Herz — mein Hund” premiered in Schwerin and has since been successfully shown in Hamburg, Rostock and Chemnitz, among others.

Teresa Weissbach has been on the theatre stage since early childhood. She played her first big movie role at the age of 17 — the beautiful, blonde Miriam in the cult film “Sonnenallee” by Leander Haußmann. Teresa studied at the Rostock University of Music and Theatre from 1999 to 2003 and just one year later Jürgen Flimm brought her to the Bayreuth Festival for his production “The Ring of the Nibelung.”
Teresa Weissbach was part of the Vienna Burgtheater ensemble from 2005 to 2007. Dieter Wedel's Nibelungen Festival in Worms, his Zwinger Festival in Dresden, the Hamburger Kammerspiele, the Staatstheater Nürnberg, the Alte Schauspiel-Haus Stuttgart, the Volkstheater Rostock and the Mecklenburg State Theater Schwerin were further theatre stages in her acting career.
For her acting performance in Henrik Ibsen's “Nora — oder ein Puppenheim”, she was named the most popular actress of the 2011/12 season by the Stuttgart audience. In addition to her theatre engagements, she is repeatedly in front of the camera in a wide variety of acting roles. These include the movies “Die Boxerin” and “Armee der Stille” as well as television productions such as “Käthchens Traum” directed by Jürgen Flimm, “Schiller”, “Polizeiruf 110”, “Tatort”, “Der Fall Ritter — Für immer ein Mörder”, “Frischer Wind”, “Ein Sommer in Kapstadt”, “SOKO Leipzig”, but also fairy tale film productions such as “Die Goldene Gans”” and “Siebenschön.”
Since 2019, she has been a fixture on the main cast of the “Erzgebirgskrimi” on ZDF.

Christoph Tomanek graduated from the renowned Ernst Busch Academy of Dramatic Arts. After his first engagement at the Bremer Theater, he quickly joined the Thalia Theater Hamburg and enthralled the audience under the direction of Jürgen Flimm, Sven Eric Bechtolf, Lou Reed and Bob Wilson.
His further journey took him to the Schauspielhaus Hamburg, Residenztheater Munich and also back again and again to the Thalia Theater Hamburg. He was soon in demand in almost all Hamburg theaters. He played a leading role in the acclaimed performance “Der Ghetto Swinger” and in the German premiere “Divas”. Both evenings were premiered at the Hamburger Kammerspiele. But the St. Pauli Theater and the Ernst-Deutsch-Theater were also convincing
he in “Ihre Version des Spiel”, in the German premiere of “Foto 51” and in the performance that won several awards
“Things I sure know.” In 2022, he will make his directorial debut at the Ernst Deutsch Theater with “Ghosts” by Henrik Ibsen. Christoph Tomanek also works for film and television — he excelled in films such as “Der Sieger in Dir” (ZDF), “Homevideo” and “Die Fremde Frau”. He became known to a wide audience with crime series such as “Tatort”, “Polizeiruf 110”, “SOKO Leipzig”, “Stolberg”, “Inspektor Jury” and “Helen Dorn”. He played a guest role in the Netflix series “Billion Dollar Code”, which won the German Television Award, as well as a guest role alongside Cate Blanchett in “Tar”, which premiered at the 2022 Venice Film Festival.
For more than 10 years now, he has been playing pathologist Dr. Strahl in the most successful ARD television series “Murders in the North.”

10623 Berlin, Germania

In the lobby