German Theatre: Between The Past and The Future

German Theatre Between The Pastand The Future CarlWeber BETWEEN MARCH 18 AND OCTOBER 3 OF 1990 a unified German state has arisen again, not unlike a Phoenix in the shape of the portly eagle shown on a West German bank note. It didn't rise from the ashes of World War II, as some journalists tell us, but rather from the rubble of the Berlin Wall, the broken bricks and concrete that were left of a state which less than a year ago had boasted of being sound, safe, and thriving. When I arrived at Berlin in March, the first free East German elections since 1949 had brought a coalition of parties from the right to the moderate left into power, a government expected to rule the sovereign GDR state for some time to come. Well, if such an illusion was harbored history quickly dispelled it. Today the two Germanys of post-war, cold war Europe have disappeared but the unified Germany will be integrated into the European Community by 1992, conceding important aspects of its newly won sovereignty soon after their gain. A three months sojourn in Germany gave occasion to observe the situation of the German theatre before the final steps toward unification were taken, from the introduction of the West Mark to the still existing GDR of July 1 to the final unification ceremony of October 3, an event many prefer to call an annexation. I watched performances in both parts of Berlin, a city still divided but open at last, and met friends I hadn't seen in nearly thirty years. There was also the opportunity to sample the offerings of "Experimenta 6" in Frankfurt, to my knowledge the first theatre festival of such scope that was devoted to a single living playwright. Productions of works by Heiner Miller from the two still existing Germanys but also from other 43 countries were performed, along with exhibits, concerts, readings, discussions , and so forth, about five events each day. During 17 days 70 productions were presented and 20,000 people attended, to the dismay of those West German critics who were beginning to take aim at the artists and intellectuals of the former Communist German state. "Experimenta 6" was the last festival to represent a divided German theatre. What will the theatre of the unified Germany look like? Probably not much different from the theatre of the two Germanys we have been seeing during the '80s. At least not for a while. The West German theatre has been dominated by a generation of talented and inventive directors , most of whom came to the fore during the '70s. They had been deeply stamped by the events and ideas which made 1968 such a seminal year, and their sympathies tended to be with the left. Several of them became the managing directors (Intendanten) of major theatres, namely, Claus Peymann (Vienna Burgtheater), Dieter Dorn (Munich Kammerspiele), orJirgen Flimm (Hamburg's Thalia Theater). The disappointing fact that very few strong directing talents emerged in West Germany during the '80s led increasingly to the invitation of directors and actors from the GDR where excellent schools and a thriving theatre system had cultivated carefully picked talents. The situation is comparable in GDR sports whose wellplanned selection and training structure produced such impressive results at the Olympics. During the same years the number of visits by companies from one state to the other had grown, though these exchanges never reached the extent theatre people themselves wished for, due to the many restrictions imposed by the GDR government. But since the '70s the theatres of both German states had worked in ways that had much in common. This was due to several reasons. First of all, both countries shared the subsidized theatre system which had been a German tradition since the eighteenth century. During the late '70s and early '80s growing numbers of GDR directors began to work for West German, Austrian, or Swiss theatres, including Alfred Dresen, Manfred Karge, the brothers Langhoff, B. K. Tragelehn , Alexander Lang, and many more. Actors also increasingly received official permits to perform in the West. Besides MUller's, many other plays by GDR playwrights such as Volker Braun, Christoph...