17 - Directing Faust: an interview

Summary

Directors are not supposed ‘to lose their way in libraries’ – that's what an English critic recently claimed. We have the impression that you don't care much about such wisdom. How exactly did you prepare for the staging of this difficult work?

Peter Stein: I've prepared for it all my life. In high school we read Faust i, of course, and my teacher had this great idea and told us that Faust ii wasn't for us – so I really got curious and dug in. I didn't understand much, but I knew that this was an incredible mountain to climb. I made a number of attempts over the years to get on top of it, through seminars, the available commentaries etc., but did not get much further. In 1969–70, Faust was on a very short list for a Schaubühne production (Berlin – see ‘Contributors: Peter Stein). I worked hard for it and at it, but again couldn't pull it off. In 1985, I left Berlin for Paris and got involved with a medieval project. I was reminded of much in Goethe's play, re-read the whole thing and suddenly found myself inside the text. I could read it almost like a newspaper, without commentary. Apparently I had to go through various Faustian phases of culture and life myself before I could find my orientation and pass it on to actors.