May, 2005 - Nr. 5
Biedermann und die Brandstifter
by Herwig Wandschneider
It was pure coincidence that an e-mail announcing the
performance of this play by Max Frisch crossed my desktop. That’s because it
was not a public performance, but a University of Waterloo (UW) class
performance (German 250+350, and Drama 250) intended to give students an
application to practice German and have fun doing it. And Max Frisch’s
(1911-1991) modern writings are just the sort of fascinating and most
enjoyable to learn and to perform. He had a true knack for exploring and
underlining human naivety, weaknesses and inconsistencies and projecting
these characteristics to a larger scale.
Important for the learning process of the Drama and German classes at UW was that as many students as possible could participate. They accomplished this by having the same characters played by different actors for each scene. That sounds confusing for the audience, but worked very well, since each character always wore the same costume, whoever the actor was (even male or female). So, while each scene only required more or less the same 5 to 7 characters (plus the chorus consisting of the temporarily inactive actors), you could get 29 students involved as actors for the 6 scenes.
![Part of cast for the 7-actor play [photo: Herwig Wandschneider]](505c-HW-417.jpg)
Too bad actually that the play was performed at 3:00 in the afternoon and that it was a more or less private, internal university event. Sure, the set was bare bones and would require a bit more effort for public performances. The souffleuse could be appropriately concealed and the costumes better fitting. (?) The point was though and what was fascinating was that the German language was well rehearsed and properly pronounced, such that it was well understood by everyone in the audience. Something that could not be said for some of the public performances I have seen in recent years.
Presented at a later hour and under the auspices, say, of the Waterloo Centre for German Studies (WCGS) such performance would draw a wider range of people from the German community, would thus supplement and vary the programme of the WCGS, and provide an audience in support of the efforts of the students. And maybe some funding for similar events that could be used to support the play, or as a mechanism to raise funds for the WCGS.
Anyone interested in reading the book review or interpretation of the book/play will find plenty of references on the Internet.
Bravo! Klassen Deutsch 250 & 350 and Drama 250! Ihr habt einen großen Vorteil von diesem Theaterstück genossen und das Publikum hat eine wahre Freude daran gehabt! Jetzt müsst ihr nur noch so eine Vorführung mit Marketing unter die Arme greifen und es öffentlich präsentieren. Vielleicht hat UW eine Marketing Klasse, die in dieser Hinsicht aushelfen kann!
