2-JAHRES KONZEPT DER FLEISCHEREI „THE ART OF LIFE“

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optimistic than Europe. You see that in Obama’s election. Yes, there is an economic
crisis, but there is also hope. Secondly, doing the play at a theatre like Castillo, with
its context of a development community and with a multi-racial, multi-generational
cast has opened up new possibilities. For example, the young actors who were trained
here in the Youth Onstage! Community Performance School certainly don’t grasp the
depth of the tragedy that Müller expresses and know little about German history or
theatre, yet they were organically drawn to certain images and movements of the text
and they have authentically translated them into a contemporary, you might say,
street-language. It is a very political play, and a highly political performance, I hope –
it’s a political montage which also contains many autobiographical references and
personal statements by the author. Because of that, we have brought in personal
references of the cast, which are, of course, very different than Müller’s.
Friedman – How has that impacted on the production?
Brenner – It has allowed us to highlight not only the failure
articulated in the text, but the energy and hope we find here in America and at
Castillo. It contrasts the dense German language and imagery with the street-wise
language and imagination of the young working class actors from here in New York. I
find that liberating.
Friedman – How have you directed/performed that contradiction?
Brenner – We put the play in an imaginary “box” in the middle of the space.
I put the Hamlet and Ophelia characters inside the box. I put the commentary on the
play, the actors performing themselves, or the characters of Sojourner Truth and Otto
René Castillo (which, of course, are not in Müller’s text) at the brink of this boundary
or outside the box. Parts of the play are presented almost as a museum exhibit. In
addition, I think that for the first time I understand now–actually working on the play–
what is the “machine”: it’s inside of each one of us, WE are the “machine” in as far as
we incorporate this machine-like system inside of ourselves–and that’s why it’s so
hard to get rid off! Again, my approach 2009 articulates a loving gesture, but it’s
definitely also a gesture of distance.
Friedman – Why is it important for you to distance the play?
THE ART OF LIFE
Einreichung an das Kuratorium Theater, Tanz, Performance
FLEISCHEREI – 2-Jahreskonzept [2011-2012]