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Heine, Matthias
2 articles of this author have been cited in the European Press Review so far.
How current is Schiller's Wallenstein?
Friedrich Schiller's play "Wallenstein" has been performed on three German-speaking stages in 2007: Leipzig, Berlin and now Vienna. Matthias Heine wonders what the public has understood of Schiller's drama, which unfolds in the period of the Thirty Years' War: "What has the Wallenstein Year brought? Primarily the realisation that not only are young directors not up to the task of presenting classics… but the general public lacks the ability to appreciate them as well. In Berlin they even answered their cell phones during the performance. And in Vienna there were people in the audience who had managed to print out the 'Wallenstein' article from Wikipedia beforehand ... Clearly, explication is needed. And the poet knew that himself, because in his day, too, not everyone knew the history of the Thirty Years' War by heart. And today you can hardly expect people to be educated at all."
» full article (external link, German)
More from the press review on the subject » Stage, » Germany
Crucification in the dark
Every ten years the Bavarian town of Oberammergau presents its Passion Play, in which over half the members of the community take part as amateur actors. Until now the depiction of the Stations of the Cross has always begun at 9:30 am and ended at 18:30 pm. But now the residents of Oberammergau have decided in a referendum that the Passion Play 2010 won't begin until the afternoon and will reach its climax late in the evening - in accordance with director Christian Stückl's wishes. Stückl argued that this way the lighting would be more favourable. Matthias Heine explains that this kind of dispute has a long tradition in the city: "Since the residents of Oberammergau first made their vow in 1633 to perform a play depicting all ten years of the suffering and death of Christ if God spared them from the effects of the bubonic plague and the Thirty Year War, there have been a number of intrigues involving casting and the dramatic form of the play. So when Florian Streibl, the leader of the detractors of the late performance option, announced he would accept the results of the referendum it struck one as an act of true Christian piety."
» full article (external link, German)
More from the press review on the subject » Stage, » Germany
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