Heiner Muller's the Hamletmachine

ISBN-13: 9781138192775 / Angielski / Miękka / 2016 / 72 str.

David Barnett

Opis

"I m good Hamlet gi me a cause for grief" At first glance, readers of The Hamletmachine (1979) could be forgiven for wondering whether it is actually a play at all: it opens with a montage of texts that are not ascribed to a character, there is no vestige of a plot, and the whole piece lasts a total of ten pages. Yet, Heiner Muller s play regularly features in theatres repertoires and is frequently staged by university theatre departments. In four short chapters, David Barnett unpicks the complexities of The Hamletmachine s writing and frames its author as an experimental, politically committed writer who confronts the shortcomings of his age. In considering the problems Muller poses for the play s performance, he also discusses two exemplary productions in order to show how the work can engage very different audiences. This book examines why such a compact, radically open, and yet seemingly obscure play has proved so popular."

Spis treści

Introduction  1. Surveying the Scenes  2. A History of Western Civilisation in Ten Pages  3. Open Sesame?  4. Staging The Hamletmachine  Conclusion