A conversation in the Stein house about the absent Herr von Goethe
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| Title: | A conversation in the Stein house about the absent Herr von Goethe |
| Genus: | play |
| Original language: | German |
| Author: | Peter Hacks |
| Publishing year: | 1976 |
| Premiere: | March 20 and October 16, 1976 |
| Place of premiere: | State Theater in Dresden and Maxim Gorki Theater in Berlin |
| Place and time of the action: | October 1786 in Weimar |
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A conversation in the Stein house about the absent Herr von Goethe is a one-person play in five acts by the playwright Peter Hacks , which is one of the world's most successful German theater works of the 20th century.
action
The drama has no obvious plot. Rather, it consists of a very long one, addressed to his own husband, the ducal stable master of Saxony-Weimar-Eisenach, Freiherr Gottlob Ernst Josias Friedrich von Stein (1735–1793) (as a stuffed doll according to Hacken's directional instructions), or to the audience Defense speech in which the lady-in-waiting Charlotte von Stein defends herself against the allegations of the whole Weimar that she was to blame for Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's escape from Weimar in 1786 for Italy .
I am now the cause of his secretly leaving us overnight, unannounced, without leave or permission. The state is without a minister, the court without a performance master, the theater without a director, the country without its great man.
In the course of the five acts, Stein explains her more than ten-year relationship with Goethe, whom she was entrusted with in order to introduce him to the Weimar court and to familiarize him with the customs at court. A love affair developed between the lady-in-waiting and the younger poet. The spurned lover indulges in tirades against Goethe. She describes what she sees as impolite and arrogant behavior towards the other members of the court and government ( we have let the habit arise of allowing him to sit apart in company and paint with watercolors, which we oblige him, how we already feel, so that he is only busy when we bore him ), his volatility, which she found outrageous, his political views and goals (e.g. the abolition of the tax exemption of the nobility), which she rejected, and the trouble that she had to raise him.
At the end of the piece, a reconciliation and renewed unification of Goethe and Stein is emerging. When Stein receives a letter from Goethe in Italy, the contents of which she believes to be a marriage proposal, she reveals her intentions to her husband before she even opens the letter ( Yes, my husband, I can tell you about the annoying circumstances of a divorce not spare. […] Who will stop me if I now take the last step to descend from Charlotte von Stein to Charlotte von Goethe? ). When she opens the letter, however, she only learns that Goethe is happy and the weather is nice in Italy.
Joint premiere in Dresden and Berlin
On March 20, 1976, the play was initially staged in the Small House of the Dresden State Theater under the direction of director Klaus Dieter Kirst . The trusted judge played Frau von Stein. Seven months later, on October 16, 1976, Wolfram Krempel's production with Karin Gregorek as Stein followed at the Maxim Gorki Theater in Berlin . Both directors had already celebrated great success with the staging of Hacks plays.
Reception and success
Peter Hacks' most successful work was enthusiastically received, both by the two premiere audiences in Dresden and Berlin, and by critics in both German states.
"The author was there and, together with the interpreters, was able to receive the enthusiastic approval of the premiere audience."
"One trampled on with enthusiasm in Dresden's Little House."
"[...] a dazzling, dramatically perfect monodrama."
"Peter Hacks [has] achieved a brilliant play."
A conversation in the Stein house about the absent Herr von Goethe has been held on over 200 German stages as well as in 25 other countries. a. listed in Argentina, CSSR, France, Italy, Japan, Yugoslavia, Canada, the Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Sweden, Spain and the USA.
Marcel Reich-Ranicki took a conversation in the house of stone in his canon of readable German works on.
Radio and television play
The piece was u. a. Produced in 1981 as a radio play in an adaptation by Ernst-Frieder Kratochwil on the radio of the GDR . Directed by Werner Grunow is Inge Keller to experience in the lead role. In 1979 a television play was also produced in the GDR, in which Karin Gregorek participated as Frau von Stein.
literature
Peter Hacks: A conversation in the Stein house about the absent Herr von Goethe. Play. Edited by Ralf Klausnitzer. Annotated works in separate editions. Aurora Verlag 2010. ISBN 978-3-359-02514-6
Individual evidence
- ↑ Annexa In: Peter Hacks: A conversation in the Stein house about the absent Herr von Goethe. Play. Edited by Ralf Klausnitzer. Annotated works in separate editions. Aurora Verlag 2010. ISBN 978-3-359-02514-6 . P. 113 ff.
- ↑ Annexa In: Peter Hacks: A conversation in the Stein house about the absent Herr von Goethe. Play. Edited by Ralf Klausnitzer. Annotated works in separate editions. Aurora Verlag 2010. ISBN 978-3-359-02514-6 . P. 117