Documentary Drama from the Revue to the Tribunal

Documentary Drama from the Revue to the Tribunal GREGORY MASON DOCUMENTARY DRAMA PRESENTS and re-enacts records from history. Unlike traditional drama, it is not founded on a freely imagined plot.I Historically, documentary drama is still in its infancy, dating from Erwin Piscator's production of In Spite of Everything (Trotz AUedem) in 1925. This paper begins by characterizing documentary drama in its initial wave of expression, and then suggests some factors which have determined the form taken by documentary drama since that time. Finally, it discusses current theory and practice, with particular reference to the dominant form today, the tribunal. Erwin Piscator, in his wide-ranging and radical experimentation, embraced all directions of early documentary drama; his work can be considered broadly representative. In his mammoth revue, In Spite of Everything, he depicted Germany's history from Berlin's situation at the outbreak of World War I to the assassination of Karl Liebknecht in 1919. Short sketches dramatizing individual incidents were interspersed with documentary film sequences from the war itself. Motion pictures provided what one critic described as a "chorus filmicus,"2 reporting visually on events off-stage. Piscator insisted throughout on the factual authenticity of his material, claiming that: "the whole performance was one huge montage of authentic speeches, articles, newspaper clippings, slogans, leaflets, photographs and films of the War and the Revolution."3 In Piscator's view, the great impact of the production was due chiefly to its historical veracity: "For the first time we were confronted with the absolute truth as we ourselves had 263 264 GREGORY MASON experienced it. It contained just as many dramatic highlights and moments of suspense as fictional theatre, and it moved us every bit as much."4 This "absolute truth" did not embody a few individualized characters acting out their private destinies, but the experiences of the broad masses on the stage of world history. The traditional elements of plot and character unfolded through dialogue were replaced by a rapid and incisive presentation of factual material. This was made possible by a formidable terrace-like set built on different levels, with a revolving stage to create a "single sweeping current of uninterrupted action."5 Piscator's vision of the role of stage machinery was extravagant. He saw stage directors as "free artists who can use the physical properties of the stage even as a painter freely uses colors in his palette."6 In staging this documentary revue, Piscator attempted to remove all aesthetic distance between the stage and the auditorium. The goal was to make of documentary drama a direct political forum: "The theatre had become reality for them and very soon it was no longer stage against auditorium, but one big meeting hall, one big battlefield, one big demonstration."7 The Kaiser's Coolies (Des Kaisers Kulis) (1930), another Piscator production, illustrates another possible avenue of documentary drama. Adapted from Theodor Plivier's novel of the same name,8 this play concerns the plight of German sailors in World War I: their living conditions, attempted mutiny, and suffering in the Battle of Jutland. The role of film in this production went far beyond that of "chorus filmicus." In effect, the stage became a three-dimensional extension of the screen,9 and the role of the actors was greatly diminished. It was film that visibly widened the scope of the play from the individual to the historical, and became "the leader and moving force in the action."lo This use of film resulted in a new kind of documentary theatre, drama by documents as well as of documents. "Not by chance", remarked Piscator, "does the material become the hero in all my plays."11 When characters appeared on stage, they were frequently abstracted, appearing sometimes in silhouette, with their dialogue transmitted through a loudspeaker. While Act I showed the sailors acting against a filmed background, Act Two presented a narrator who accompanied the film of the main battle action. Essentially the actors provided only a reinforcing function. Apart from the battle footage from the archives, there were more sophisticated uses of film. In dramatized reconstruction, a sound film portrayed the dilemma of a neutral fishing ship caught between the...