Crossing Bridges and Borders: Independent Theatre in the GDR

CROSSING BRIDGES AND BORDERS Independent Theatre in the GDR Patricia Anne Simpson They rejected my application, let my dreams die / The cup of hope has shattered / The cup of hope has shattered (Stephan Krawczyk, "Meditation Blues") We're stuck to each other in this dead city. And if we ever fall, then we don't feel any wind, then we sink slowly into dull boredom. (Freya Klier, The Exile of Don Juan) Many East Germans flock to church regularly, but not religiously. And they come to witness, not to worship. The church has become the center of political activism and a forum for the alternative performing arts in East Germany. It is the essence of theatre to be seen and heard, but many East German actors, writers, and directors must confront invisibility and silence because their work steps beyond the policy but not the power of the state. Stephan Krawczyk and Freya Klier were at the forefront of East Germany's independent culture. Together they made up the only freie Theatergruppe (non-official theatre group) in the German Democratic Republic. But in a sweep last January, the East German government purged numerous dissidents and cultural leaders, effectively rooting out independent thought and creativity within its tightly controlled borders. Klier and Krawczyk were among those arrested and expelled to the West. Now that the pair is no longer in East Berlin, the entire alternative arts movement is in jeopardy. 39 Klier is a trained actress and director from Dresden. In 1984, she won a state prize for the best and most promising young director (Beste Regie). But her production of The Optimistic Tragedy, a play about the struggle between anarchists and Bolsheviks after the Russian Revolution, precipitated her fall from grace. Faithful to the text, she ended the piece on an ambiguous , rather than socialistically self-affirming note. The authorities closed the play after two performances and imposed an Auftrittsverbot or performing prohibition on Klier-a kind of blacklisting. She was never hired to direct again. It was no accident that she connected with Krawczyk, who is the only performer in the GDR to have Berufsverbot (profession prohibition-the active form of performing prohibition; he and anyone who hires him risks fines and imprisonment). They met at a Mayakovsky Revue in 1984, where Krawczyk, a Liedermacher, or singer/songwriter in the Wolf Biermann tradition, was the main attraction. Biermann, who was expatriated in 1976 after a controversial concert in Cologne, is now virtually erased from memory. Krawczyk, however, became a cult figure among those who still have ears to hear. He left the party in 1985 after being criticized for quoting Rosa Luxemburg in concert. His use of her "Essay on the Russian Revolution" (in which she writes, "freedom is always the freedom to think differently") was considered subversive-attacking the government with one of its own. Their shared blacklisting impelled Krawczyk and Klier to create one of the most dynamic forms of independent performance in East Germany. In spite of the bans, some 80,000 people have seen their work in churches throughout the country. Part of their strategy involves breaking down the wall the government puts up between people and their culture. Too often, they reason, official theatre is irrelevant to an East German's daily life. In an attempt to effect new solidarity between the performance and the public, Klier, a self-described amateur sociologist, circulates pamphlets and questionnaires (privately-for such canvassing is against the law), asking her potential audience about their most acute problems. She bases her work on the results of these surveys. Passports, Passwords (Passe, Parolen), one of Klier's and Krawczyk's most popular collaborations, treats environmental issues, abuse of the elderly, and travel restrictions. It demonstrates the facility with which they merge aesthetic and political radicalism, directly addressing the collective consciousness of their audience. In April 1987, on a vist to East Berlin, I witnessed a performance of Passports, Passwords. It took place in the rooms of the Church of Zion in Prenzlauer Berg, a section of East Berlin that has become a center for any type of non-sanctioned activity--political discussion groups, small-scale rock concerts, poetry readings, and the...