The story of the arrows
The story of the arrows is a drama by Tankred Dorst , which premiered on March 18, 1996 under the direction of Torsten Fischer with the music of Manfred Trojahn in the Halle Kalk on the stages of the city of Cologne .
In the first two parts of this triptych, sincerity stands against hypocrisy. In the last part, however, such diverse characteristics of the establishment of truth are promptly questioned.
content
The title of the first part refers to the original - Jakob Bidermann's “Philemon Martyr” from 1618, the room in the middle part is the green room in the theater and the philosopher P. certainly means Pascal .
Philemon Martyr
Anno 303 in Arsinoë south of Cairo during the persecution of Christians : soldiers drag the actor Philemon in a sack in front of Arrian, the Roman governor of Egypt . Arrian has the sack opened and wants to recognize in the tortured Christian the oil and fat wholesaler Apollonius, a Christian like Philemon. When Philemon objects, his judge Arrian apologizes. Philemon played the role of Apollonius so real that he fell for it. When the governor continues to mock the wounded Christian in such a vicious way, the head of an acting company Philemon angrily berates his judge as a verbose liar. Philemon was hired by Appollonius to play the latter. Meanwhile, the oil wholesaler fled from the Romans and left his wife, also a Christian, with Philemon in Arsinoë.
The actor stands by his Christian faith and is sentenced to death on the stake by Arrian. Only the fourth arrow of the archer hits. A swarm of arrows whizzes towards the fatally wounded Christian. But one of the projectiles turns around and hits the eye of the Roman judge Arrian. Philemon's troops are then driven out of Arsinoë. The actors - with the exception of one actress - do not mourn Philemon, but want to forget him as quickly as possible.
The green room
Three actors - Herzog, Gronevoldt and Katz - do not see Philemon's corpse, which is still lying in front of them, during their conversation. The three gentlemen are less concerned with the game of Philemon Martyr that has just been given. Rather, personal issues from everyday life are discussed. Gronevoldt wants to impress his idol, the successful, much admired Duke. Gronevoldt is rejected by Herzog. My career will probably not work out. Gronevoldt reacts angry, desperate and wants to vent his anger on Katz. The old duke thinks young Katz is beautiful. On the one hand, the young Katz hopes that he can recognize himself as an actor. On the other hand, he longs for the North African sand desert - without any friend, enemy or audience.
During the endless chat about acting, actors, authors and directors, Gronevoldt suddenly finds that Herzog looks old. The aged mimes seem to be doing really badly. After he has gotten himself up a little again, he tells the two younger colleagues that he has just acted out the weakness. Gronevoldt can hardly believe it, because he had spied on Herzog once in the city and happened to observe an earlier seizure of a similar kind in the famous colleague in the swarm of passers-by.
The views of profession and calling collide. Herzog - authoritarian - thinks that everything in the acting profession is ultimately a lie; at best appearance. Gronevoldt, on the other hand, wants sincerity. He misses them with the established colleagues and directors in his area. The eloquent Duke wants to include the young Katz as an arbitrator in the scramble for the right point of view. Katz resists. When challenged by the grandiose Duke, the Duke rejects the accusation that he is a do-gooder who constructs his pursuers with the exclamation: “You were a Nazi !” The cards are face up. After the back and forth, it is clear to Katz that Herzog was in SS circles at the time . Herzog does not deny any of Katzen's allegations, but even frankly admits a homoerotic tendency towards a young SS man.
Gronevoldt scratches his hands with the pocket knife, bleeds, "throws himself on Philemon's clothes and weeps."
Memorial
P's servant finds a scribbled note in the late philosopher's skirt and gives the autograph to the philosophical faculty . After analysis, few academics believe in the record of an enlightenment of what has passed.
reception
- 1995: According to Günther Erken, in the middle part the paradoxes of the first part are reflected in a conversation between three mimes from the 20th century as an "independent narrative". Again, Tankred asked Dorst questions and left the audience with the answers.
- Frieder Reininghaus on March 25, 1996 in the Berliner Zeitung : "The little heap of skin and bones is Philemon"
radio play
- 1996, SDR : "A surprising tremor" . Director: Hans Gerd Krogmann . With Traugott Buhre as Duke, Ernst Konarek as Gronevoldt and Rufus Beck as Katz.
literature
Text output
- Tankred Dorst: The History of the Arrows. P. 125–166 in: Spectaculum 62 - Six modern theater pieces (Contents: Chantal Akerman . Oliver Bukowski . Dirk Dobbrow . Tankred Dorst. Yasmina Reza . Martin Walser ) Suhrkamp / Insel, Frankfurt am Main 1996. 286 pages, ISBN 978-3 -518-40830-8 .
- The story of the arrows. A triptych pp. 303–355 in Tankred Dorst. The shadow line and other pieces. Collaboration with Ursula Ehler . Edition 6 (content: Parzival . Fernando Krapp wrote this letter to me . Mr. Paul . To Jerusalem . The shadow line . The history of the arrows). Epilogue: Günther Erken. Suhrkamp Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1995 (1st edition), without ISBN, 375 pages (edition used).
Secondary literature
- Heinz Ludwig Arnold (Ed.): Text + criticism Issue 145: Tankred Dorst . Richard Boorberg Verlag, Munich, January 2000, ISBN 3-88377-626-2 .
- Gero von Wilpert : Lexicon of world literature . German Authors A-Z . Stuttgart 2004, ISBN 3-520-83704-8 , p. 126, left column.