14 replies to this topic

[jade-louise]

I'm writing my dissertation on how influential German theatre is in Britain and want to know:

Why is German theatre such a popular revival in Britain?

How has German theatre influenced the way other plays are staged in Britain?

Do acting techniques and staging techniques make plays different in the way audiences view them?

How effective are the different translations and versions that are staged? For example, the recent National Theatre production of Mother Courage.

Also I'd really appreciate any opinions on the recent 'Spring Awakening' musical and how everyone thought that worked. Compared to the original version aswell, if anyone has seen or read that, that would be very interesting. And also how the themes relate to the issues that we have in the world today. Is this one of the reasons why German theatre is so popular in Britain?

If anyone has seen the original play of Spring Awakening on stage, please do let me know as I'd love to interview you about it.

If you're interested in answering these questions and any other opinions you might have I'd be really greatful.

Any help would be greatly appreciated, thank you x

[Belle]

I'm afraid I'm no help to your dissertation, but I wish it would extend to German musical theatre!  How much would I love to see UK productions of Tanz der Vampire, Elisabeth, Rebecca....

[armadillo]

Is German theatre popular in Britain? Spring Awakenings flopped here and while there have been a  couple of successful Schiller revivals from the Donmar, I'd have thought their success owed more to the staging and high-powered casting than people getting excited over the idea of seeing another German play. I bet a fair proportion of people seeing Mary Stuart didn't even realise it was from a German source.  Brecht is well-known here (though the recent Mother Courage got very mixed reviews) but I can't think offhand of any German plays from the last 30 years that have done well here (please prove me wrong). What is your evidence for German theatre being more popular here than say Russian or Norwegian or Italian?

[jade-louise]

I'm not asking whether its popular with audiences over here, I'm asking why its chosen to be revived over here.

I did in fact mean Brecht, that's the era I was going for and I'm sorry for forgetting to put that.

[Daniel]

In the good old days of Peter Daubeny's World Theatre Season at the Aldwych, The Bremen Theatre performed Spring Awakening in German in April 1967.
They also performed Die Unberatenen by Thomas Valentin and Robert Muller.
I still have the programme for both productions (although I only saw Spring Awakening ) which includes photographs and would be happy to provide any information from that but there would be little point in interviewing me about it bearing in mind it was over 40 years ago! My main recollection about it was that it was a fairly stilted and uninspiring production.
Incidentally, I very much enjoyed the recent musical version.

[armadillo]

I'm not asking whether its popular with audiences over here, I'm asking why its chosen to be revived over here.

I did in fact mean Brecht, that's the era I was going for and I'm sorry for forgetting to put that.

What period exactly are you talking about? After all, Brecht had a long career. And in your first post you ask

'Why is German theatre such a popular revival in Britain?

How has German theatre influenced the way other plays are staged in Britain?'

So we though you meant current theatre. In fact, as we've said, there are very few revivals of twentieth century German plays other than Brecht. The only other recent one I can think of is The Pains of Youth, recently done at the Cottesloe but I very much doubt that will start any sort of trend.