Sat, 03 Apr 2004

Theatre as process: crossing frontiers with Faust at the Goetheanum

By NNA correspondent Cornelie Unger-Leistner

Dornach, 3 April (NNA) – There was palpable tension at the Goetheanum – until the pale red velvet curtain in the large hall rose and the premier of Faust got underway on Thursday evening to an audience of more than 1,000 people. For one-and-a-half years the ensemble had worked with director Wilfried Hammacher to put the gigantic work on stage in Dornach, and it had done so under significantly changed conditions. If for many years the Goetheanum stage was the only place which offered Faust in its classic and full-length form, it received competition four years ago with Peter Stein’s production for the Expo 2000 in Germany – and that production had a budget twice the size.

In addition, tight financial resources meant that there was no leeway for a new set: new costumes was the most that could be afforded. At the same time, the Dornach Faust made significant moves into the wider world: there was collaboration with Swiss transport, which put the figure of the Goetheanum’s Mephisto on numerous flyers and posters. Then there was the dialogue with Basle municipal theatre which put on its own production of the drama at almost the same time. And finally, Swiss regional authorities made an important financial contribution to the production; their representatives attending the reception at the premiere unanimously praised the cultural commitment of the Goetheanum. Would the new Faust production live up to expectation under these new circumstances? A lot of the talk before the start of the premier discussed these questions, particularly if people had seen Stein’s Faust. The Goetheanum Stage continues to build on the suggestions of Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925), the founder of anthroposophy who built the Goetheanum.

Even the external appearance of the Goetheanum suggested a change of approach: red banners with “Faust” written on them signalled activity and a new way of doing things. Combined with the colourful production photos in the foyer, which, to the joy of many long-standing guests, had been liberated from the old furniture, the building emanated warmth and a cordial welcome. Climbing up the stairs one could take a journey through time in a comparison between the new photos and their historical predecessors. In the corridor above, the Goetheanum Archive presented an exhibition called “Creation from nothing – Retrospective 1914-2004 – 90 years of Faust productions”. In the so-called wardrobe diaries by Clarissa Redding, one could retrace how everything started when the first scenes were performed on the Goetheanum building site and artists and artisans hurried along from their trades to rehearse individual Faust scenes under Steiner’s direction. In this way Faust was connected with the Goetheanum from the beginning. In 1938, the world premier of the whole of the play subsequently took place in Dornach.

It is therefore no surprise that director Wilfried Hammacher proudly placed himself in this tradition at the press conference before the premier and pointed out that “good things were left alone and the less good was replaced”. But Hammacher, who was awarded the German federal cross of merit for his decades of theatre work in Stuttgart, could not hide the tension either.

When the curtain finally rose and the performance had started, one could sense a flood of relief and approval: using only lighting, colour and sparse props, a set of poetic intensity had been created. “Clear forms, nothing is missing, very harmonious” were the comments from the audience in the intervals. And people repeatedly emphasised that the simple design allowed the viewer to focus on the essence. The modern style of speech was also seen as an improvement, being distinguished positively from previous forms of speech in older productions. “More open than previously, more witty”, people commented repeatedly, indicating that the atmosphere of a new approach had also communicated itself to the audience. All in all, this was a performance that could hold its own in any comparison, the audience felt in a first response.

The spring weather contributed its part to the harmonious course of the first evening and lured visitors out to the Goetheanum terraces during the intervals, where the underlying poetic mood of the performance was maintained with the shimmering moon and the romantic view over the Dornach hills. If some of the magical eurythmy figures from the stage had appeared among the audience they would hardly have seemed out of place.

As always, the audience for the premiere had an international flavour with many well known figures from the anthroposophical movement in attendance. The guests from abroad had clearly spared no effort to gain access to what is one of the greatest poetic works in the German language. According to the Goetheanum press office, the translation aids on offer were hardly used.

On the fringes of the performance it was possible to discover, for example, that reading groups in the Netherlands had prepared for their visit to Dornach months ahead, reading Faust and Rudolf Steiner’s lectures on the subject in the German original. Thus prepared, they set out on their journey to the Goetheanum to compare what they had read with what they saw. “Beautiful German, that is really noticeable here ,” was one comment.

The new way of staging Faust over three days instead of a week also represented an experiment for the actors, according to the Goetheanum Stage. How the public coped with the new format will only emerge at the end of the seventeen performances. Then it will also be possible to tell how younger people reacted to the production, of whom few were present at the premiere. A special Faust youth festival in early August at special prices hopes to attract many of them.

That Goethe’s Faust is more than just a theatre drama, but rather a process which the viewer goes through and which means that he or she goes home a different person to when he or she arrived became clear even having seen just the first part of the performance.

END/ung/cva

NNA will distribute a detailed review of the whole Faust production on Monday.

Details on performance dates and addresses can be found at www.faust-goetheanum.ch

N040403-01EN Date: 3 April 2004

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