Theatre
THE SCHAUBUHNE FOUR
The International Festival is bringing the work of four artistic directors of Berlin’s leading theatre. So who are they?
PETER STEIN Age? 65. Connection with the Schaubijhne? Stein established the Sci'iaubt'ihne am Halleschen Ufer in 1970 as an egalitarian collective. The company set new standards for German theatre. In 1981. it moved to a new building in Lehniner Platz at a cost of STSOm. Stein resigned in 1985.
Directorial style? A painstaking attention to detail. leading to highly realistic performances. Also has a soft spot for mega-productions: his Julius Ceasar in 1993 at the Royal Highland Exhibition Centre featured 40 speaking parts and 200 extras.
What’s he directing in Edinburgh? Wagner's Farsi/at It's five hours of some of the world's greatest talents. The conductor is Claudio Abbado With the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester. For good measure. there are three choirs thrown in and top ticket prices a big. big, big $2100.
Parsifal, Edinburgh Festival Theatre, 473 2000, 12, 15 & 18 Aug, 5pm, 25-2100.
LUC BONDY
Age? 554.
Connection with the Schaubiihne? Bondy worked With Stein at the Schaubt‘ihrie from 1982 and was considered to be his natural successor. He became joint artistic director in 1985 and directed plays by Marivaux. Botho Strauss and Moliere. He left in 1988.
Directorial style? ‘A director should go into a work and disappear inside,“ he says. ‘To be an opera director, yOu should give people the feeling that it's not only well staged and well done. but that you have tried to go deeper.‘ What’s he directing in Edinburgh? Benjamin Britten's The Turn of the Screw. The Mahler Chamber Orchestra under conductor Daniel Harding helps Bondy bring a creepy edge to the adaptation of the Henry James chiller.
The Turn of the Screw, King’s, 473 2000, 23, 25 8. 26 Aug, 7.30pm, 25-250.
56 THE LIST FESTIVAL GUIDE
so good
His plays have enjoyed unparalleled success all over the continent, but Norwegian dramatist JON FOSSE has yet to find a British audience. We flew to Norway to ask him why. wail-(is; Steve Cramer
Hit). It seemed enough for a weekend. htit l‘d l‘oi'gottcn Norwegian
l‘rom Bergen airport greeted me in perl'ect linglish. htit remained silent throughout the ten minute driye to my hotel. I assume. giyen his £31) fee. that he was too husy planning his wintering on St Lucia to speak tome.
.\ly interyiew would not he until Saturday at ltmch time. so on this l-‘riday eyening I took to the streets seeking cheap scran. ln the cheapest district to he discoyercd. I found a hargain grocery store. Here I was ahle to huy a confectionery heguilingly titled Bilers. as well as some Bog. which from the tin looked like ham. Add to that a packet of Skruers (crisps) and a liirkloyer chocolate har. and my needs were met.
Back at the hotel. one taste of Biler and I was heading for the hog. Btit I couldn‘t open the tin. so had to content myself with a night in a Scandinavian hotel with liirkloyers and Skruers. I was down to can. hut contented that I should soon he in the presence ot'greatness.
For in terms of litiropean drama. there are few higger figures than .lon liosse. With oyer l()() productions this year alone. lt'ossc is the most performed dramatist on the continent. When I met him he would explain that he seldom gayc interyiew s. htit that as I worked tor a British puhlication. he was making an exception. ln
prices. .\ly taxi driy'er
Britain. hi/arrely. l’osse has heen giyen only one lull-scale production. .\'1g/il.y'nngx at London’s Royal ('ouit. which recciyed a tepid welcome. The (ii/'/ on I/It' Sig/ti. which has heen adapted by Scotland’s l)ayid llarrow'er. amounts to a second chance with a peculiarly resistant British market. l~'osse. llarrower and acclaimed (ierman director 'l‘homas ()stermeicr seem a comhination destined to hreak this resistance.
We meet at lunchtime on a sunny Saturday. and l lind a kind of sell—el'l‘acing \Vi/ard ot‘ ()1 quality in the shortish. stout l’osse. whose heard and tinted spectacles seem less of a necessity than a means ol‘ hiding. lle greets me a little neryously. and takes me on a walk around the part ol‘ Bergen I’d completely missed the night hel‘ore. showing a pretty market square hill of tourists. shoppers and street entertainers. and the tihitluiiotis fountains of” this Norwegian city which perches on a tiny plane hetween yertiginous mountains and a deep ljord. liinally. he leads me to a cale on the quay'side.
I ask him his pleasure. and he replies that he‘s really rather shy. so he likes a beer to help him relax. I order two of the local hrew'. Hausa. very agreeable stut't' hut. at £l l for two measures of’ somewhat less than a pint. it needs to he. l-‘ortunately. liosse proyes generous to a fault and more than huys his round.
T/lt’ (iir/ (HI I/It’ Sit/21 tells the story of a painter who feels she cannot paint. tracing her inahility hack to an adolescent trauma. l~'osse examines her past as a young girl. heset hy an\ieties. trouhled hy an ahsent lather. l'lanked hy' an adulterous mother haying an al'l'air with her hushand’s hrother and an older sister prone to wearing