At the Finish

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Data
Title: At the Finish
Original language: German
Author: Thomas Bernhard
Publishing year: 1981
Premiere: 1981
Place of premiere: Salzburg Festival
Place and time of the action: In Holland
people
  • The mother
  • The daughter
  • A dramatic writer
  • A girl

The goal is a play by Thomas Bernhard from 1981.

action

In the play the mother, her daughter and a "dramatic writer" appear. Mother and daughter are in the process of preparing their trip to the vacation home by the sea. Rather, it is only the daughter who takes part in the preparations, while the mother, meanwhile, reflects on her marriage to a foundry owner, her relationship with her daughter and the role of the theater. The writer, who has been invited by his mother to come along, arrives at the house. After the train ride, mother, daughter and the dramatic writer arrive at their destination, the holiday home by the sea. In this triple constellation, on the one hand, there are dialogues about the role of theater and its power to change between mother and poet. On the other hand, the poet seeks a relationship with his daughter.

interpretation

The evaluation of her marriage and her son Richard's mother are ruthless. Richard is referred to as an "ugly child". Her husband was chosen only because of his property. The relationship with the daughter is characterized by pathogenic egomania ("I gave birth to you for myself"). The mother is representative of the past and representative of Bernhard's description of the rebellion of the 1968 generation against the parents' generation ("We smashed the story that got in our way and made a new story out of the rubble"). The daughter stands for the future, which remains in a self-inflicted immaturity: she does not oppose her mother's accusations, she cannot decide the invitation to take a walk on the poet's beach ("I always go for a walk alone"). The poet stands for senseless success, because although his play is applauded, although he triumphs in the virtual world of the theater, he does not arrive in the real world. He, too, cannot counter the relentless unmasking of the mother, he cannot organize the relationship with the daughter. The poet, mother and daughter physically arrive at their destination. In reality, they do not get there: the daughter can not free herself from the pathological relationship with her mother, the poet cannot translate his relationship with the daughter into reality , and the mother cannot escape from her past and her own devastating interpretation . Bernhard leaves it open as to whether the daughter and poet will succeed in breaking free from their own immaturity. The prerequisite for this would be to recognize in which entangled situation, in which dependency they are. With the piece, Bernhard succeeded in opening the viewer's eyes to his speechlessness, to his lack of freedom. He succeeds in doing this by allowing himself to identify with his mother, daughter or poet, depending on the role and generation. In this way, contrary to its own criticism brought forward in the play, theater can already achieve something, namely knowledge of itself, which creates the prerequisite for finding a goal.

occupation

Three ladies, one gentleman, two decorations.

Performance history

At Ziel was premiered on August 18, 1981 at the Salzburg Festival with Marianne Hoppe in the leading role, directed by Claus Peymann . The German premiere was on October 22, 1981 in the Schauspielhaus Bochum , also directed by Peymann.

In October 1982 a much-noticed new production followed at the Cologne Theater with Christa Berndl in the leading role. Luc Bondy staged it , the set and costumes were from Rolf and Marianne Glittenberg . Ilse Ritter played the daughter, Stephan Bissmeier the dramatic writer and Klaudia Noltensmeyer the girl.

Désirée Nick was the leading actress in Gisbert Jäkel's production in September 2006 at the Hans Otto Theater in Potsdam. The stage design came from Jäkel, the costumes from Antje Sternberg . Carsten Kochan took over the dramatic writer .

In 2008 the play was re-staged at the Munich Residenztheater under Thomas Langhoff with Cornelia Froboess as mother. After 1992 the play will also be performed in 2015 in the Wallgraben Theater in Freiburg .

In 2015 the Theater in der Josefstadt in Vienna presented a new production by Cesare Lievi , stage design by Maurizio Balò and costumes by Birgit Hutter . Andrea Jonasson took over the leading role , and Martina Ebm (girl), Therese Lohner (daughter) and Christian Nickel (dramatic writer) also played.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://www.suhrkamp.de/theater_medien/am_ziel-thomas_bernhard_101050.html
  2. ^ TH Köln : Am Ziel, Cologne, October 15, 1982, premiere , accessed on June 6, 2020
  3. ^ TH Köln: Performances: Am Ziel, Potsdam, 09/24/2006, premiere , accessed on June 18, 2020
  4. ^ Theater in der Josefstadt: Cast , accessed on June 13, 2020