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A Theatre without Actors
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 April 2018
Extract
When Tim Renner, then secretary of state for cultural affairs in Berlin, announced in March 2015 that Frank Castorf's term as artistic director of the Volksbühne would end in 2017, his reasoning was clear. After twenty-five years, it was time to “develop the Volksbühne further,” to “rethink” where this storied theatre would go next. As the agent of change, Renner had identified Chris Dercon, then still director of London's Tate Modern—a highly regarded museum director with decades of experience as a curator, and none as a theatre maker.
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- Volksbühne Special Section
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- Copyright © American Society for Theatre Research 2018
References
Endnotes
1. Brecht, Bertolt, “Tendenz der Volksbühne: Reine Kunst” (1927), in Bertolt Brecht: Werke: Große Kommentierte Berliner und Frankfurter Ausgabe, 30 vols., ed. Hecht, Werner et al. (Berlin: Aufbau-Verlag and Frankfurt: Suhrkamp, 1988–2000), 21 (1992): 195–6Google Scholar, at 196.
2. Quoted in Jürgen Balitzki, “Die Demontage des Räuberrads,” radio feature for Deutschlandfunk, transcript of a broadcast from 21 July 2017, 7, www.deutschlandfunk.de/21-07-2017-das-feature-demontage-des-rauberrads-die-letzten.media.599cab57604fa2d6be829dace2d8a4d9.pdf, accessed 6 January 2018. All translations are my own.
3. An audio recording of the meeting is available at https://soundcloud.com/t-fischer/irgendwo-ist-etwas-schief-gelaufen-mit-die-agendas, accessed 6 January 2018.
4. For an analysis of that program, see my “How to Kill a Great Theatre: The Tragedy of the Volksbühne,” 20 May 2017, www.dispositio.net/archives/2452, accessed 6 January 2018.
5. Ulrich Seidler, “Programmchefin über Vorwürfe: ‘Die Volksbühne ist eines der freiesten Theater,’” Berliner Zeitung, 13 December 2017, www.berliner-zeitung.de/29287672, accessed 6 January 2018.
6. Chris Dercon, “Wir sind ein neuartiges Mischwesen,” interview with Barbara Behrendt, Deutschlandfunk, broadcast of 28 December 2017, at 7:42–8:40, www.deutschlandfunk.de/volksbuehnen-intendant-chris-dercon-wir-sind-ein-neuartiges.911.de.html?dram%3Aarticle_id=406833, accessed 6 January 2018.
7. Ibid., at 10:50–11:22.
8. Dercon, Chris and Piekenbrock, Marietta, “Partikel,” in Volksbühne Berlin : I want to be free— Programm 2017/18, ed. Feldhaus, Timo (Berlin: Volksbühne Berlin, 2017), 104–15Google Scholar, at 113.
9. Dercon, interview with Behrendt, at 4:55–5:21.
10. Jürgen Kaube, Kolja Reichert, and Simon Strauss, “Interview mit Chris Dercon: Unser Theater soll eine Schule des Befremdens sein,” Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 20 December 2016, www.faz.net/aktuell/feuilleton/buehne-und-konzert/chris-decron-gibt-auskunft-ueber-programm-fuer-berliner-volksbuehne-14584652.html, accessed 6 January 2018 (Permalink: http://www.faz.net/-gs3-8oll8).
11. Ibid.
12. See Dirk Pilz, “Chris Dercons Volksbühne: Große Gesten, wenig Gehalt,” Berliner Zeitung, 12 November 2017, www.berliner-zeitung.de/kultur/theater/chris-dercons-volksbuehne-grosse-gesten--wenig-gehalt-28831016, accessed 6 January 2018; Christine Dössel, “Die Volksbühne atmet mehr den Geist eines Museums als den eines Theaters,” Süddeutsche Zeitung, 13 November 2017, www.sueddeutsche.de/kultur/theater-die-volksbuehne-atmet-mehr-den-geist-eines-museums-als-den-eines-theaters-1.3746007, accessed 6 January 2018; Daniele Muscionico, “Zurück zu den Vätern,” Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 15 November 2017, www.nzz.ch/feuilleton/zurueck-zu-den-vaetern-ld.1328555, accessed 6 January 2018.
13. It is true that Beckett has not been a mainstay of the Volksbühne's repertory since the early 1990s, but that does not explain Dercon's apparent sense that Beckett has been forgotten in Berlin, and that “young audiences” only got to “rediscover” his work when that triptych of short plays made their appearance in October (as he claimed in the interview with Barbara Behrendt). Both Waiting for Godot (at the Deutsches Theater, since 2014) and Endgame (at the Berliner Ensemble, since 2016) are currently in other Berlin theatres’ repertories, and the DT Godot was one of ten “most remarkable” productions nationwide to be invited to the 2015 Theatertreffen. If Dercon and Piekenbrock want to reconnect to a lost theatrical avant-garde, they might have to dig a little deeper. A dramaturgy department would normally help with that.
14. For more details, see the archived website of Castorf's Volksbühne, at https://volksbuehne.adk.de/deutsch/volksbuehne/archiv/spielzeitchronik/1990_bis_2000/index.html, accessed 6 January 2018.
15. Pollesch, René, “Die Volksbühne als Haus des Dritten,” in Republik Castorf: Die Berliner Volksbühne am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz seit 1992, ed. Raddatz, Frank (Berlin: Alexander, 2016), 277–301Google Scholar, at 285–6.
16. “Neues und gebrauchtes Theater,” in 1992–2017: Volksbühne am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz—Fotoalbum, ed. Thomas Aurin, Carl Hegemann, and Raban Witt (Berlin: Alexander, 2017), n.p.
17. Pollesch, 286, 294.
18. Lydia Dykier and Jakob Gerber, NADRYW: Die Volksbühne als letzte Realität (Kurze Fassung), documentary film, 2017, at 54:58; www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CA9r6KnwL4, accessed 6 January 2018.
19. Herbert Fritsch, “Ein Haus mit einer manisch-depressiven Grundstruktur,” in Republik Castorf, 303–21, at 312.
20. Carl Hegemann, “Castorfs Bucharin,” in Republik Castorf, 213–31, at 223.
21. Bernhard Schütz, “Das Wichtigste ist, dass alle Schauspieler Verantwortung übernehmen,” in Republik Castorf, 201–11, at 209. The history of Castorf's artistic directorship is studded with anecdotes about new directors coming to the Volksbühne for a single production only to fail in their efforts to shape the ensemble to their expectations. This difficulty in establishing new collaborations is the flip side of the (positive) narrative that portrays the Volksbühne as a house where exceptionally long-lasting relationships between directors and actors could flourish.
22. Sophie Rois, “Wer ist das, vor dem man sich da ausbreitet?” in Republik Castorf, 127–37, at 127, 130.
23. Alexander Scheer, “Das gefährlichste Theater der Welt,” in Republik Castorf, 139–57, at 151.
24. Discussed in exhaustive detail in the comments section after Wolfgang Behrens, “Das Prinzip Mann,” Nachtkritik, 20 January 2016, http://nachtkritik.de/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12037:judith-an-der-berliner-volksbuehne-baut-frank-castorf-mit-prominenter-unterstuetzung-aus-friedrich-hebbels-drama-und-viel-fremdgeraune-einen-fuenfstuender&catid=42&Itemid=100476, accessed 6 January 2018.
25. Hunger-Bühler, Robert, “Tobende Ordnung,” in Castorf: Arbeitsbuch 2016, ed. Eilers, Dorte Lena, Irmer, Thomas, and Müller, Harald (Berlin: Theater der Zeit, 2016), 126–7Google Scholar, at 126.
26. Scheer, 145.
27. Schütz, 208.
28. NADRYW, at 46:38.
29. Joachim Fiebach, “Stanford Lecture: Das Theater Frank Castorfs,” in Castorf: Arbeitsbuch 2016, 134–39, at 136–7.
30. Schütz, 210–11.
31. Quoted in Balitzki, 9.
32. Susanne Kennedy, “Women in Trouble,” in Volksbühne Berlin: I want to be free, 39–42, at 42.
33. Lilith Stangenberg, “Es muss brennen!” in Republik Castorf, 177–87, at 184.
34. One could easily begin to question the supposed political radicalism of Castorf's Volksbühne by asking why so very few of its productions over a quarter of a century were directed by women, for instance.
35. As the inscription over the Volksbühne's front doors read before the building was heavily damaged in WWII: “Die Kunst dem Volke!”—“Art for the people!”