The room battle

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The room battle. The practice piece for a married couple is a drama by Martin Walser .

Emergence

Walser wrote the first act of the piece in 1962/63 as a radio play , which was broadcast in 1966 under the title "Geography". The first performance of the extended version took place on December 7, 1967 in the Kammerspiele in Munich under the direction of Fritz Kortner .

The play was staged across Europe and brought Walser financial security. In the following ten years it was even the third most frequently performed piece in the Federal Republic of Germany (cf. Fetz, Gerald AS 95).

action

The play "Zimmerschlacht" takes place in the living room of the Fürst family and describes the attempts of the Fürst couple to enjoy an evening together. Actually, the two main characters have planned to spend the evening with three other befriended couples and to accept an invitation from their friend Benno and his new, much younger partner. Together with Messrs. Neumerkel and Mengel, Felix decides to boycott the invitation and thus clearly show Benno what they think of his relationship with the young Rosa. Only later does Felix 'real motivation become clear. He finds Rosa very attractive and cannot bear to see his wife in direct comparison with her.

Staying away from the evening party means that Felix and Trude spend the evening alone at home. It turns out that the two no longer know what to do with their togetherness. Although both would like to break out of their usual everyday life to do something crazy and adventurous, they hold on too tightly to their entrenched way of life. Even if he does not admit it, Felix admires his friend Benno for his courage to leave his wife Regina and become engaged to the young Rosa. Felix would like to be able to make decisions regardless of social norms and rules.

Felix: “We are alone. You and me. A man and a woman. We can do what we want. I wish you felt this as tremendously as I did. We could walk on tiptoe. Throwing your arms through the air, playing crazy windmills, or simply knocking over all tables, chairs, armchairs ”(page 18).

Both want a new wind to come into the relationship and bring more momentum to their relationship and their love life. Trude quotes from the Kama Sutra, "No other suitable means of making passion grow than listing the deeds that are done with nails and teeth" (p. 20).

To create a relaxed atmosphere and to escape the unpleasant situation, the two drink a few glasses of cognac.

Trude asks Felix to tell again how he shot down enemy planes in the war, because she hopes that Felix will then appear more masculine to her again. She longs for a real man and is tired of the considerate geography teacher. During the conversation, however, it becomes clear that Felix came up with the war story in order to meet his wife's need for a strong, male partner and society's expectations of a successful soldier. In addition, it becomes clear that Felix confessed to several infidelities with his wife, which however never took place.

This admission is followed by an argument that clearly shows that the two main characters no longer love each other, but neither do they hate each other. On the one hand, the marriage of the two has become everyday and indispensable, on the other hand, the two long for a different life.

In the end, both characters are unable to break out of their usual paths and defend themselves against the expectations of society. So the two follow the invitation from Benno and Rosa.

Work context

The play deals with the married life of the main characters and takes place exclusively in the private and intimate area. The historical and moral-political aspects that Walser otherwise are so interested in are not considered here.

The reference to current social patterns is achieved in the play "The Room Battle" through a slightly alienated realism and a spatial and figurative restriction. The two main characters make it clear in their living room what social expectations are placed on a married couple. The two feel that they have to keep the marriage going even though they no longer feel love for one another. The friend Benno, on the other hand, has managed to break out of such an old marriage and is now feeling the reaction of society, as his own friends distance themselves from him.

The description of the social constraints is thematically very similar to the social framework in Martin Walser's Anselm Kristlein trilogy. Although Anselm Kristlein has meanwhile achieved a professional advancement by advancing from sales representative to copywriter and writer, it becomes clear that he remains dependent on society and its members.

In his work "Martin Walser", Gerald A. Fetz refers to a quote from Brändle, in which the latter refers to the fact that the everyday practices of a petty-bourgeois marriage are clearly emphasized in the play. "Acts and decisions of the individual can actually no longer be talked about, because the viewer realizes that even the lies and hypocrisy in the private life of the student council are nothing more than imitation of everyday social practices that simulate conflicts where reification has long been the norm. Walser sees and shapes - despite the ostensibly private conduct of action - not the failure of the individual, but the failure of a form of society and the living conditions of this society. "

The shape of the piece is reminiscent of the shape of the duo dramas . Duo dramas were very popular at the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th centuries and were characterized by the fact that they presented dramas for two actors or singers.

reception

In his essay on Martin Walser's dramas, which was published in the magazine TEXT + KRITIK, Reiner Taëni refers to the astonishment of Martin Walser's success on the stages of the Federal Republic of Germany in the 1960s, as the theater at that time strictly followed the motto " no experiments - no risks ”(cf. Taëni). The justification of his success was already controversial at the time. The critic Günther Rühle emphasizes, however, that through Walser, the German theater has for the first time achieved an independent shape that has a model character and is not a replica of existing processes. However, it is precisely this aspect that Reich-Ranicki contradicts by stating that Walser does not succeed in precisely this model situation in his first pieces ("Oak and Angorar", "Larger than life Herr Krott" and "The Black Swan") and that this is precisely the reason is for the failure of Walser (cf. Taëni).

In contrast to other authors of his time, such as Kipphardt, Hochhuth or Weis, who dealt with historical topics in their plays, Walser dealt with topics relevant to contemporary history that affected contemporary society.

Marcel Reich-Ranicki certifies to Martin Walser that he represents this contemporary society authentically as long as the characters speak freely with one another. According to Reich-Ranicki, however, this authentic representation is undone by the fact that Walser tries to loosen up the dialogue between the two spouses on the stage. “As long as Walser's characters attack each other and torment and torture each other directly, as long as they are allowed to express their feelings and resentments, their thoughts and fears, their inhibitions and complexes directly, Die Zimmerschlacht appears authentic. […] However, where he strives for scenic effects, where he wants to make his dialogues effective on stage, his theater becomes amateurish and his humor downright silly. "

Even Hellmuth Karasek refers in his review of the play to the realistic description of everyday life in the drama. "Walser consumes everyday life to show how everyday life consumes us".

Even if it initially gives the impression that this piece deals exclusively with the relationship between Felix and Trude, the social structures of the 1960s also become clear. Anthony Edward Waine describes that the development in the course of the piece can be traced back to the interaction of individual and social forces. He describes five phases of this development process. "There are five principal stages in this progression. The action is motivated initially by social pressures (Benno's 'catch' and the paty). This provokes individual resistance (the intrigue and their staying at home). Felix's act of resistance leads to a build-up of private pressure. These eventually cause a breakdown of resistance, and the final stage is the adaptation of the individual to the social process (their leaving for the party). "

It is precisely this interplay of individual needs and desires with the social demands of society that leads to the authenticity described above and the success of this piece.

expenditure

After a first publication in 1967, the piece was included in the anthology Martin Walser. Pieces published by Suhrkamp Verlag. This anthology contains all the theater plays that Walser wrote up to 1984.

  • The detour. The room battle. (2 pieces, written 1961 and 1962/1963/1967). Suhrkamp (es 205), Frankfurt am Main 1967.

Collective issues:

  • Pieces. Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt am Main 1987.

literature

  • Fetz, Gerald A .: Martin Walser. Publishing house JB Metzler. Stuttgart, 1997.
  • Greif, Hans-Jürgen: To modern drama. Bouvier Publishing House. Bonn, 1973. pp. 23-26
  • Karasek, Hellmuth: For two. In: About Martin Walser. (Ed.) T. Beckermann. Suhrkamp Verlag. Frankfurt am Main, 1970.
  • Reich-Ranicki, Marcel: Was it a murder? In: About Martin Walser. (Ed.) T. Beckermann. Suhrkamp Verlag. Frankfurt am Main, 1970.
  • Taëni, Rainer: Models of an Alienated Society? About Martin Walser's dramas. In: text + criticism . Journal of Literature. (Ed.) HL Arnold. Volume 41/42. Pp. 57-68. EDITION TEXT + CRITIC.
  • Waine, Anthony Edward: Martin Walser. The Development as a Dramatist 1950-1960. Bouvier Verlag Herbert Grundmann. Bonn, 1978.