Mon, 05 Apr 2004

"Doors and gateways I find open..." - impressions of the new full-length "Faust" production at the Goetheanum

By Wolfgang G. Voegele

Dornach, 5 April (NNA) – Twenty-four hours of Goethe – even director Wilfried Hammacher sighed that this was “certainly somewhat stressful” at one point during the premiere. On the second day, overtired members of the audience skipped certain parts of the play while others in half-empty rows at the back followed the advice of the nymphs in the Classical Walpurgis Night scene: “The best thing to do now / is lay you down”. Thus they slumbered until rousing trombone tones from Jan Stuten’s music stirred them to new attentiveness. Yet those who courageously endured this spiritual marathon (with sustenance from outstandingly well-organised and nutritious meals), were richly rewarded with unforgettable impressions.

Pared-back stage design

The director intentionally related his new production of the full-length “Faust” to long-standing Dornach tradition: the unabbreviated drama was first produced on the Goetheanum stage by Marie Steiner in 1938, after Rudolf Steiner – who had previously edited editions of Goethe and was fully versed in his work, naming the centre of his movement after his revered precursor and exemplar – had staged single Faust scenes here as early as 1915. Back in 1900 Steiner had produced modern dramas as part of the avant-garde “Free Dramatic Society”, and written numerous theatre reviews. Together with his wife-to-be Marie Steiner-von Sivers, who trained to be an actress in St. Petersburg and Paris, Steiner later developed his new art of movement known as “eurythmy”, and his own approach to the art of speech. It was Hammacher’s intention in the current production to “let stand what is good, and replace what is less so”.

It is always something of an experiment to stage Goethe’s “Faust” in three consecutive days. In the nineteenth century both parts of “Faust” were performed in three days – in Weimar for instance – although heavily cut. The 2004 Dornach staging has been kept intentionally simple. Much use of lighting, and almost everything pared back to speech, movement, light, colour and music. According to the director this aims to help the audience focus on what is important and enter fully into the “threefold tragedy of knowledge, love and willed deed”. Above all Hammacher seemed enthused by Faust’s phrase: “Deed is everything; not fame.”

A few responses from the audience: “A great experiment, much of it successful.” – “One could easily have simplified the sets in a more radical way” – “There was still too much naturalism” – “Kitschy film music, reminiscent of the thirties” – “Eurythmy as narcotic” – “I was completely transported and will go back and read Faust again now, for the first time in many years” – “Now we have been purified” …More critical voices accused the director of holding back and muzzling the main protagonists in their “emotional development”. People also found fault with longer scene changes when the auditorium was lit, for instance after the Emperor’s Palace scene, which some of the audience took advantage of to stretch their legs a little. Some of those who had only a passing acquaintance with “Faust” found some of the speech choruses too long-winded, and not always easy to understand for acoustical reasons.

Nevertheless, none of the audience were indifferent, and the production was fervently discussed at every interval! The audience’s attention, which sometimes drifted away rather worryingly, was always re-engaged by individual performances (and also by brilliant directorial ideas), so that the tricky conclusion of Faust II was convincingly communicated as gripping, harmonious whole.

It is not possible to mention all the glorious high points, where almost complete accord reigned between music, word, movement and colour. Instead I will just single out the first, silver-bright Homunculus scene, or the Church scene, where the synthesis of recitation, eurythmy (evil spirit) and music appeared particularly fortunate. The dramatic tension actually increased at some points towards the end of the 3-day spectacle: the Gryphon scene, the Four Crones scene, the Seer Manto, and also the Bishop and Lemurs scenes, were portrayed with classical perfection.

Sparing sets: in the foreground left a statue of the Mater Dolorosa, right a fountain. Centre stage a few, simple, stepped rostra, whose seven steps are no doubt not just a matter of chance on an “anthroposophical stage”. Otherwise curtains and a great deal of light. Nevertheless, in accordance with the Prelude in the Theatre scene, panoramas and stage machinery are not spared: clouds of mist in the witches’ scene, numerous pyrotechnical effects and sparkling chains of light kept the senses enthralled. Banners and torches, an elephant on rollers, a sprightly poodle, even the figure of the hippopotamus expanding behind Faust’s stove, avoided any kind of monster-movie resonance and remained discreet and compelling. The same was true of the shadow projections.

Particularly impressive were the original masks for the fabulous, mythological beings, but also the imaginative, sometimes gorgeous costumes, almost 800 of which were newly created for this project under the direction of Katharina Lehmann. A painter in the audience, who has no connection with the anthroposophical movement, described the careful colour shadings of successive scene as “professionally done”. The eurythmy, yes, even the children eurythmists, played a major part in the success of the whole. In portraying supersensible occurrences and beings of which there are so many in Faust, eurythmy has long proven indispensable.

Successful experiment

Of the hundred or so involved in the project, I only have space to give brief sketches of certain actors at the premiere – whose roles, by the way, were in all cases double-cast. The Dedication and Prelude at the Theatre scenes were rather unadventurous, weak and leaden. Was this due to first night nerves? Dirk Heinrich, as young Faust, seemed somewhat phlegmatic to begin with, but increasingly grew into his role as the play progressed, his language becoming ever more forceful and delineated. Günther Arnulf was amusing as the anxious pedant Wagner. Peter Engels’ Mephisto towered head and shoulders above the rest of the ensemble with his clear speech, his pleasantly modulating voice and perfectly controlled gestures. His biting irony and dry wit frequently triggered liberating laughter in the audience, without him ever losing the dark, inscrutable gravity of his role. Mirjam Hege (Martha) performed with convincing and soulful expressive power. Katja Axe (Gretchen) allowed the fiery element that is otherwise intrinsic to her to shimmer through only faintly. But this very control revealed a great power of will, holding much promise for future stage performances. The Pupil (Andreas Heinrich) captivated the audience with his marvellous naivety, while Barbara Stuten (Helena) combined regal dignity with seductive charm.

Some may regret that individual leads subordinated themselves to directorial consistency and often had to hold themselves back: however, this gave rise to a unified ensemble – far from easy in such an extensive piece. The Dornach stage artists appear open for further changes as Hammacher himself admitted at the press conference, saying he did not consider the current production as being in any way final or perfect. Some of the lead actors also work outside Dornach in independent, experimental ensembles. They see the new Dornach Faust as just one possibility among many.

Towards the end of the performance, positive views were already gaining the upper hand. That the experiment was a success was confirmed by a dozen curtain calls and applause lasting for minutes, during which Wilfried Hammacher himself was also honoured with numerous “Bravos” as he stood in the midst of the ensemble. A very respectable achievement by this commendable, tirelessly active director, whose true age one would never suspect (76 in a few days’ time). The musicians also earned special applause.

Shimmering tone qualities

As is clear from his stage directions, Goethe definitely wanted music in Faust. We know of his statement to Eckermann that “Mozart should have composed the music for Faust”. Under the direction of Hartwig Joerges an ensemble of young musicians, some of whom were positioned in the organ gallery and others behind the stage, played music by the Dutch composer Jan Stuten (1890-1948). This formed a wonderful unity with the eurythmy, but also underscored individual scenes, or created a transition between them. Stuten, who worked in close contact with Rudolf Steiner, wrote his 62 orchestral works for Goethe’s Faust between 1915 and 1946, composing them especially for the Dornach performances. He studied at the conservatories in Cologne (under Fritz Steinbach) and Munich (under the operatic composer Walter Braunfels) and later in Basel under the Swiss composer Robert Suter. He was a Basel executive committee member of the International Society for New Music (IGNM) and as conductor travelled far afield. Stuten’s works include an opera, numerous orchestral pieces, songs with piano accompaniment and music for eurythmy. He himself acted the role of Faust.

His Faust music is colourful, varied and affirmative, sometimes also underscoring the drama in a realistic way. What the naïve listener often takes to be programmatic music, Stuten understood as the expression of spiritual experience, as “organic sculpting and building in tone” through transformation and juxtaposition of the motifs. For instance, the theme of the “Mater gloriosa” is a metamorphosis of the Gabriel theme from the “Prologue in Heaven”, the most concentrated part of his Faust music. Themes assigned to individual personæ were not “visiting cards” for Stuten, but the content of real experience.

Although Stuten’s Faust music cannot be conceived without the enhancement it gained from Steiner’s “Mystery Theatre”, it is also immediately accessible to non-anthroposophists. A magical mood is conjured as Helen of Troy passes from the Palace of Sparta into the protective sanctuary of the medieval castle court. There is delightful ghostly music in the first part of the Romantic Walpurgis Night, and stirring music for the battle scene, with dissonant three-tone harmonies, somewhat reminiscent of the Mars music in Gustav Holst’s “The Planets”. In the Walpurgis Night Dream there are chirruping, shimmering tone qualities, while the orchestral overture is full of dramatic energy. In the music for Easter Night, Stuten used tubular bells and austere organ tones in minor keys. Everything is sparing and unforced, and therefore never kitschy. Thus Faust’s “Ascension” is solemn and sublime, but wholly unsentimental. Besides the music, Erika Schneiter’s careful choreography of the dances (pavanes etc.) deserves mention.

New openness

For a good many years now, a process of greater openness has been underway at the Goetheanum, and is seen in positive terms in the Swiss arts world and beyond. Exchange and contact between Dornach and international theatre is increasingly being sought and found. This new spirit of openness is expressed in the subsidy policy practised by Swiss cantons, which gave substantial donations for this Faust project.

The actors and the director both demonstrated that they were open for discussions and conversations with the audience during these Faust days. This refuted the old cliché that the Goetheanum only serves an anthroposophical clientele, producing insider art and closing itself to criticism from outside.

After the exhausting theatre marathon, a welcome close to events took place in the Goetheanum’s invitingly refurbished lobby, where actors and audience gathered: thanks (from Paul Mackay, Goetheanum executive council member) were expressed to those who had collaborated on the project. Individual visitors also spoke; and finally director Hammacher once more took the floor, to quote an aphorism by Christian Morgenstern on the “dumbing down” of our culture. As melodies by Fritz Kreisler resounded in the foyer, discussions continued for hours, people chatted at leisure and some even danced the odd waltz, as far as this was possible in the throng.

Such details also show how the Goetheanum continues to open itself to the wider world. It is increasingly spoken of as an important site of new cultural developments. Hammacher’s reference, in the pre-performance press conference, to the staging by his “competitor” Peter Stein as a “huge cultural achievement” needs no comment. Hammacher sees his own achievement as director in modest terms, as the realisation of one version among many other possible ones. Anyone who attended the premiere with an open mind might say, in the words of Baccalaureus: “Doors and gateways I find open!/Now, at last, are grounds for hoping…” (Faust II, Act 2, Scene I. Worth reading on from there…)

END/wv/mb/nna

N040405-01EN Date: 5 April 2004

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