Different Versions
The NDR television channel recorded several versions in 1963. Most well-known is the 18 minute version of the sketch traditionally shown in Germany. It has an introduction in German language by narrator Heinz Piper and an audience laughing in the background. Every year, there are normally about 15 rebroadcasts of the show in Germany on all of ARD's public regional stations such as MDR, WDR, NDR and BR, and other so-called Third Channels.
Danish TV shows a recording made by NDR on the same stage in which no audience is heard.
A third, 11 minute version was recorded by Schweizer Fernsehen (Swiss Television).
In 1999, the NDR released a post-processed coloured version.
In Denmark, a parody of the sketch was filmed with the subtitle "The 80th Birthday" in which Miss Sophie's friends are still at the table (that the last of Miss Sophie's friends actually died 25 years ago is only known to those who have seen the NDR version, which mentions this in the introduction). Other versions include one in Low German, various re-enactments or parodies by different comedians, and a version featuring the German glove puppet character Bernd das Brot (Bernd the Bread).
In 2008, on the occasion of the 60th birthday of German comedian Otto Waalkes, RTL Television showed a parody of the sketch with Otto as "Miss Otti" and departed German comedians as her guests whom the butler (Ralf Schmitz) then impersonated. Whether Miss Otti's ordering of the wine before the fish was an accident or planned is a matter of debate but it brought the house down...
In August 2010, there was a stage production at the Hill Street theatre, Edinburgh, as part of the Edinburgh festival. Directed by David Lavender, it starred Chris Cresswell as James and Miriam King as Miss Sophie.
On 24 December 2011 a digitally edited satirical version entitled "The 90th Euro rescue summit, Or, Euros for No One", produced by Udo Eling and German state broadcaster ARD, was uploaded to YouTube. It features German Chancellor Angela Merkel as Miss Sophie and French president Nicholas Sarkozy as her servant, and features new German (and some French) dialogue about the Eurozone debt crisis.
Read more about this topic: Dinner For One
Famous quotes containing the word versions:
“The assumption must be that those who can see value only in tradition, or versions of it, deny man’s ability to adapt to changing circumstances.”
—Stephen Bayley (b. 1951)