Franz Kain - A Splendid Pike in the Non-Swimmers' Pool

Franz Kain's tenth solo programme

60 years old and anything but quiet: the milestone birthday has driven the "Spitzklicker" to bring his tenth solo programme to the stage. He belongs to the group of aging people (51-60) and stands on the brink of joining the older generation (61-75) - though he prefers to sidestep the category of "old and very old people" and focus instead on the "long-lived" (100 and over). This includes life on stage, where the ur-Woinemer flourishes - authentic as ever in Kurpfalz dialect.

His theme: "Growing old, but not aging." The sixties are, after all, the new forties, and Kain still feels like a splendid pike. But what happens to people who are suddenly classified as the older generation? They become jubilees, receive gift baskets with vouchers for walkers, and can buy discounted senior tickets. Cold dread comes over him at the offer of "senior holidays" with woodcarving workshops, linocuts, and aqua-fun with pool noodles.

At least water has given him an extra dose of fitness - from swimming and aqua-zumba to diving off the pool's edge. What is David Hasselhoff compared to Franz Kain, who founded the rescue swimmer unit "Baywatch Woinemer Waidsee" at the DLRG?

So far he has outrun age by jogging - though he poses the painful question of whether the all-weather jogger ultimately burns more lifetime than he gains. A tragic loss-making business. Kain's better suggestion: laugh at yourself.