On a massive stage in the Papal Palace (Palais Des Papes) in Avignon, southern France, way back in 2004, Thomas Ostermeier, Artistic Director of Berlin's Schaubühne, presented his production of 'Woyzeck' as part of the Festival d'Avignon. It was the first German language production to be peformed at the Papal Palace.
Sine this production was some 18 years ago, there is alittle point in trying to decontsruct the show or even pass too much comment on the acting, but there are some comments which I do think worth mentioning.
I have seen the play Woyzeck only a handfull of times, and each time it has been given a different setting, a different location, an updating, a modernising, a re-imagining. I have yet to see a production that actually is costumed and set at the time period of Buchner's original script. Furthermore, each time I have seen this play, I have always seen a slightly different ending. This is because the work was left unfinished at Buchner's death and so it has been left for others to write their own endings. Here Thomas Ostermeier excelled. His interpretation of the end of the play I though, in context with what he had brought to bear previously and his characterisations and their relationships up until this point, felt right, natural, and I applaud his decision to do what he did. It would not be "plot-spoiling" to say that Woyzeck became so entrenched in his own rage, his own inadequecies and was so under the thumb and controlled by the Doctor and the system, that he ends up killing the only thing he has ever really loved, Marie. Not that this is an 'original' ending - since the play is based on a real life case of a man being put to death for stabbing his wife (Marie) to death. [other versions of the end have Woyzeck drowning himself either after he kills his wife or without killing her, or have him returning to embrace his child] - however what was different here was the starkness, the brutality, and yet the truth that was brought to bear on this situation.
On such a vast stage, the actors were dots, and so the filmed version worked especially well, as it was able to zoom in and get much closer to the actors and the action than anyone watching had a chance of doing. The commitment and energy from everyone on stage was quite phenomenal. The set design was the overflow / sewage pipe and outflow stream on the outskirts of a large, anonymous city, and the time, the present. The play spoke of inner-city gangs and fear, and cast Woyzeck, not as the 'hero for the common man' but a guineapig who was too timid to stand up for himself; each time he tried being pushed down even further by a Dr. Mengele-styled doctor who liked experimentation and pain.
The play was bleak, and so Ostermeier injected scenes (improvised?) of his own invention. There were dance routines, 'intermezzos', ideas which came and went, cabaret / variety style performances from out of the blue breaking up the hard-punching grimness. A rapper with breakdancers came on and performed, whilst cast members themselves were given mics to do 'Kabaret' - Ostermeier seemingly blending the long-standing tradition of German Kabaret into one of Germany's most often-performed plays. It gave the whole an 'otherworldly' feel, and gave the production a surreal, but also cinematic quality to it too. It felt very much at times like a lot of contemporary mid-European cinema. I can't really explain exactly what it was that made it so, just that it was so.
Overall the play was too long, and would certainly have benefited from some judicious editing, but I understood why there were so many long pauses and scenes of action without dialogue. It all added to the contemporary Noir effect. However, it was still a compelling watch and Ostermeier demands much from his actors, which, when returned, as it was here, is a truly electric experience. Obviously it's more thrilling live, but I was more than thankful to be able to watch this production online.
Bruno Cathomas played a somewhat unconventional Woyzeck, but was captivating right from his very first entrance. Christine Geisse played a worried and perhaps over-sensitive Marie, with Felix Roemer as the hard-nut Captain and Kay Bartholomaus-Schultze as the epitome of sadism, the Doctor. Bleak, stark, but punctuated with humour and the odd high camp variety act, this was a unique, gritty, and yet entertaining production.
Reviewer - Chris Benchley
on - 10/5/20
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