Free Theater Munich

The Free Theater Munich (FTM) is a free Munich theater company that has existed since 1970 . It was founded by George Froscher (1927–2015) and Kurt Bildstein (born 1943). Bildstein has been the sole director of the FTM since the death of Forschers in 2015. The FTM has been working with experimental theater means since 1970 and tries to translate unobstructed experiences and psychological sensitivities into physical representation. With the aim of distancing itself from traditional authorities of spoken theater, the group gave itself the name of "free theater".

History and venues

After training at a private drama school in Berlin and dance training at the Folkwang School in Essen , George Froscher worked as a dancer with Kurt Joos and Jean-Louis Barrault , among others . After a long stay in the United States (1959–1962), where he came into contact with the Living Theater, among others , he worked as a director and choreographer on his return to Germany. In 1970 he founded a theater group with Kurt Bildstein in Munich after a year of preparatory work with a group of interested parties who were wanted by posting at universities. The first production is a collage based on Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz 's "Soldiers" in April 1970, which will be performed in the adjoining room of the inn in Fäustlegarten in Schwabing. The troupe initially performed adaptations of contemporary texts (by Horowitz, Handke, Beckett, Brecht) in various Munich venues. From 1971 onwards, theater and body workshops are offered by the Free Theater in Munich to learn the techniques of Froscher and Bildstein, which are aimed at both actors and laypeople and which become a central point of the FTM's theater work.

After positive reviews and changing venues (including the theater at the social welfare office and one of its own temporary venues), the company moved into the backyard theater in Haidhausen in 1973. This old biscuit factory in Wörthstraße with space for around 50 spectators is the home of the FTM until 1980. The central figures of the FTM at this time were George Froscher, Kurt Bildstein, Benno Ifland and Colin Gilder. The repertoire is expanded to include productions of drama by the comedian Karl Valentin and time-critical revues. Since 1976, the group has also tried street theater and theater on stilts , partly because of lack of space . Inspired by the fair and traveling theater, the performers take to the streets, breaking the division between audience and performers and gaining new viewers. As a result of a structural reorganization in the Munich cultural department, the FTM, like other groups in the Munich independent scene (including the Rote Rübe collective ), received lower subsidies from the mid-1970s and sees its livelihood as threatened. The missing money is generated, among other things, by the workshops offered. From 1979 to 1984 Froscher and Bildstein played in a factory building they had renovated at Dachauer Straße 112. Today's Pathos Theater is located here . From 1985 onwards, theater work took place without its own venue, although the FTM continued to present texts by Heiner Müller , Karl Valentin, Eugène Ionesco and Bertolt Brecht , but its own work and piece developments were also on the program.

The FTM productions are invited to numerous theater festivals, including the Edinburgh Festival Fringe , the Festival Mondial de Théâtre in Nancy, the Berliner Festwochen and the Styrian Autumn Festival . In cooperation with the Goethe-Institut , numerous theater workshops were also held outside of Europe until the early 1990s. In 2002 George Froscher was awarded the Theater Prize of the City of Munich for the FTM's theater work.

The Free Theater Munich is currently being continuously funded by the City of Munich as part of the individual project funding for independent theater professionals. For example on the 40th birthday of the FTM in 2011, when “How not to kill the father” was shown in the I-Camp , or most recently in 2019 for the “Pop Amok” project based on a piece by Markus Riexinger, the former Titanic author ( previous working title: "Die Hallodus").

Style and methods

A characteristic way of working has been developing continuously since the FTM was founded. Based on the dance theater background of the founder George Froscher, among other things, the style is explicitly physical. Movement and voice training play a central role in the development of the productions, because this is how well-entrenched thought processes should be resolved. The basis of the work is often improvisation, not the theater text, in order to bring one's own experience to the stage, not imitation or role clichés. From these improvisations, which are recorded with tapes and then processed, the style of play also emerges. Expressive speaking, the distortion and deformation of figures, as well as closeness to the audience, i.e. overcoming the separation between audience and actors, are elements that can be found again and again. There are flat hierarchies in the rehearsal work itself. Neither directors nor writers occupy a privileged position; the voice of everyone involved is heard. Helmut Schcödel describes the 1977 rehearsal process for ZEIT as follows:

"A rehearsal in the FTM begins with gymnastic exercises (part one of the rehearsal), from which terrible and funny images develop [...]. Is that just a Bavarian Grotowski - this hissing, humming, screaming, laughing, this comic -Inferno of derailing movements, these original sounds? [...] The ten actors of the FTM group try to put themselves into extreme emotional states: joint-shaking anger, jumping joy, drooling lust. [...] Two out of ten are busy with each other, provoke and stimulate each other. They want to learn not to be afraid of taboos, obscenity or each other. "

This form of work, which combines "play practice with theater education ", also dominated the workshops offered from 1971 onwards, in which lay people as well as professional actors up to a certain age took part in order to learn the methods of FTM. Kurt Bildstein and George Froscher led these workshops, but breathing and body training and improvisations are not subordinate to any dominant factor, are not in the service of a text. Courses in acrobatics, communication and sensitivity training are offered. With these workshops and its own productions, the FTM travels to Poland , Hungary , Scotland , Venezuela , Austria , Italy , Belgium , Panama , Kenya , Brazil , Peru , Israel , New Zealand and the United States .

Before the FTM embarked on the attempt at "street theater" in 1977, they mainly produced pieces associated with classical texts with their tried and tested means (for example, "Our Valentine", a study with Karl Valentin, a production from 1976). Inspired by the fair theater and the Commedia dell'arte , direct communication with the audience is now established. In some cases, entire street festivals arise around performances of the FTM, the spectators dance and play along. The productions that are shown in more traditional venues are also increasingly influenced by the fair theater. The audience is invited to participate, is questioned, and magic tricks are shown.

The FTM is also currently developing its own pieces with guest authors, in which physicality, dance and music continue to play a major role. Although the forms have evolved, the FTM remains true to its methods.

reception

Helmut Schödel in the article from 1977 attributes intensive forms of expression to the FTM, whereby conventional leeway is overcome. The FTM specifics are the distortion, heightening and deformation of figures, the artistic handling of the body and objects as well as a tendency towards action theater: “a strongly expressive speaking; the inclusion of the audience, who is never left in peace, in the performance: "an open, an aggressive theater". Dagmar Müller refers in her report on Denkmaschine Joggen und Hirnjoggen (2007) to the content level of the performance Spectators question today's society: “George Froscher's ensemble proves once again that content negotiated on stage, apart from any theater fashions, can reach an audience.” The emotional perception of the audience as a shock theater is defined according to the report by Malve Gradinger: “In its privacy he has screwed Artaud and Kresnik's theater one step further - into an immediate shock theater . It got bad for some viewers. ”According to Dagmar Müller, the performance Thinking Machine Jogging and Brain Jogging (2007) addresses current issues in society such as consumption, individuality and religion and relates to the question of freedom : “Every freedom is nu r one pretended within a narrow framework of rules ”. The question of freedom and the relationship between Nazi propaganda and modern advertising is also mentioned in B. Welter's report on the performance of the Thinking Machine Jogging and Brain Jogging (2007) . According to Gabrielle Lorenz, the theater is a place of thinking, not of fashionable chatter. In the report on “How not to kill the father” 2010 , Silvia Stammen addresses the performative aspect of physical staging: “Getting language out of the body, bringing thinking back to the physical process, that was and is the program of the FTM”. Mathias Hejny also refers to the physical staging in the room and emphasizes the performance of the main actors. In the report on 40 years of FTM, Malve Gradinger underlines the reference to Greek classics, the older and newer European and American world literature as well as autobiographical contributions to existential and socio-political issues.

Productions and guest performances

Pop Amok - author: Markus Riexinger - staging, stage: Kurt Bildstein, assistant, co-director a. Organization: Peter Pruchniewitz

Pop Amok - author: Markus Riexinger - staging, stage: Kurt Bildstein, assistant, co-director a. Organization: Peter Pruchniewitz

Source:

date	title	production	author	place
April 1970	soldiers	George Frogs	According to JMR Lenz	Fäustlergarten, Munich
July 1970	The Indian wants to go to the Bronx	George Frogs	Israel Horowitz	Tams (Theater am Sozialamt), Munich
November 1970	M for Word	George Frogs	Collage after Aeschylus / Euripides / Sophocles	Münzstrasse 7, Munich
February 1971	Self-designation / prophecy	George Frogs	Peter Handke	Münzstrasse 7, Munich
March 1972	Petty bourgeois wedding	George Froscher / Kurt Bildstein	Bertolt Brecht	Münzstrasse 7, Munich
June 1972	Memories of a madman	George Froscher / Kurt Bildstein	after Nicolai Gogol	Münzstrasse 7, Munich
October 1972	The bald singer	George Froscher / Kurt Bildstein	Eugène Ionesco	Münzstrasse 7, Munich; Premiere in the "Fabrik" Hamburg
April 1973	After Brecht	George Froscher / Kurt Bildstein	after Was Kostet Das Eisen und Dansen 1,2,3 and songs by Bertolt Brecht	Münzstrasse 7, Munich
October 1973	Participation in the Wroclaw International Theater Festival with After Brecht
November 1973	The affair in the Rue de Lourçine	George Frogs	Eugène Labiche	Wörthstrasse 9, Munich
June 1974	Tutonic Shock - German Evergreens	George Frogs	George Frogs	Wörthstrasse 9, Munich
1974	Participation in the Edinburgh International Theater Festival with After Brecht SCOTSMAN - Theater Prize
October 1974	The ward wants to be a guardian	George Frogs	Peter Handke	Wörthstrasse 9, Munich
November 1974	Teutonic shock (with extended 2nd part)			Wörthstrasse 9, Munich
February 1975	The petty bourgeois wedding Prod .: GF (new production)	George Frogs	Bertolt Brecht	Wörthstrasse 9, Munich
August 1975	Workout - Result: East African Actors Workshop Head: George Froscher / Kurt Bildstein with the Goethe Institute		Nairobi , Kenya (Participants: Kenya , Uganda , Tanzania )	Wörthstrasse 9, Munich
November 1975	Endgame	George Froscher / Kurt Bildstein	Samuel Beckett	Wörthstrasse 9, Munich
1976	Our valentine	George Froscher / Kurt Bildstein	Karl Valentin (first Valentin production)	Wörthstrasse 9, Munich
1976	Participation in the International Theater Festival Caracas with After Brecht
1976	further guest appearances in Venezuela , Panama , Costa Rica , Colombia
June 1976	1. Street theater attempt			Wörthstrasse 9, Munich
December 1976	1. Demonstration of the working method of the FTM in Munich			Wörthstrasse 9, Munich
February 1977	Confirmation + Co	George Froscher / Kurt Bildstein	Karl Valentin (second Valentin production)	Wörthstrasse 9, Munich
1977	Participation in the Théâtre des Nations, Paris with Firmling + Co
June 1977	Street spectacle	George Froscher / Kurt Bildstein	(Black / white procession, tetzels, indulgences, white clowns, the chief forester, animal training)	Wörthstrasse 9, Munich
September 1977	Participants with both Valentin productions 2. Demonstration of how the FTM works			Berlin
October 1977	Participation in the Styrian Autumn, Graz with Firmling + Co TV recording ORF
April / May 1978	Elvis Rockgarden	George Froscher / Kurt Bildstein	George Frogs Environment theater	Play in several art spaces outdoors and in a tent at the Munich Theater Festival
April 1979	Places we encounter Waiting for Godot Everything makes her happy, she never stops smiling	George Froscher / Kurt Bildstein	FTM project based on texts and a. S. Burroughs, J. Kerouac, JD Salinger , Samuel Beckett by George Froscher	Wörthstrasse 9, Munich
May 1980	Time for paradise Mountain procession	George Froscher / Kurt Bildstein	George Frogs Theater Festival Munich Outdoor theater action by the FTM
August 1980	Village festival	George Froscher / Kurt Bildstein	Environment Theater - presentation of different landscapes, places, etc. Buildings in the Bavarian village of Gebrontshausen
1981	The Hamlet machine	George Froscher / Kurt Bildstein	Heiner Muller	Dachauerstraße 112, Munich
1981	Attempt at an exhibition Walkable installation over 12 years of FTM theater work			Dachauerstraße 112, Munich
1982/83	Theater work in Brazil and Peru : Working with Brazilians and Peruvians in their native language: Diamantina: street theater Belo-Horizonte: The good person of Sezuan		Bertolt Brecht
1982/83	Lima , São Paulo , Brasília , Belo Horizonte : Workshops and performances in cooperation with the Goethe-Institut		with texts by u. a. Heiner Müller, Peter Weiss, Antonin Artaud
March 1984	Hamlet machine (English)	George Froscher / Kurt Bildstein	Heiner Muller	University of South Florida , Tampa , USA
Theater work without a place of its own
March 1985	Valentine 85	George Froscher / Kurt Bildstein	after Karl Valentin
April 1986	The bald singer	George Froscher / Kurt Bildstein	Eugène Ionesco
19th February 1987	Description of a picture	George Froscher / Kurt Bildstein	Image description and other texts by Heiner Müller	University of South Florida , Tampa , USA
August 1987	Molière meets Louis in Louisiana	George Froscher / Kurt Bildstein	FTM project based on Molière's texts (Halls and open-air performances)
July 1988	Macbeth	George Froscher / Kurt Bildstein	after William Shakespeare	Munich
July 1989	Macbeth			at the International Theater Festival, Grenoble , France , at Macht der Nacht (Theater Festival in Munich)
October 1989	Hamlet machine (Hebrew)	George Froscher / Kurt Bildstein	Heiner Muller	University of Canterbury Great Hall Christchurch / New Zealand
April / May 1992	Antigone Theater project of the FTM with the dance theater City. Stages, Münster	George Froscher / Kurt Bildstein	after Sophocles / Euripides
2nd / 5th June 1992	Macbeth			Opera houses in Istanbul and Ankara
September 1994	Macbeth Production with actors from the Castrop-Rauxel City Theater	George Froscher / Kurt Bildstein
September 12, 2007	Thinking machine jogging - jogging match Theater project part 1
September 19, 2007	Brain jogging - Dostoevsky Grand Inquisitor (Theater project part 2)	Free Theater Munich	Two theater projects by George Froscher
October 11, 2010	Retrospective 1970–2010 Videos / documentaries / conversations / guests
July 6, 2011	Heiner Müller - dream texts	Free Theater Munich	George Froscher's theater project
July 2012	Kleist - madness of freedom	Free Theater Munich	George Froscher's theater project
November 2019	The history of the pop band "Die Hallodus" - Pop Amok	Kurt Bildstein	based on a text by Markus Riexinger

Web links

• Homepage of the FTM

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g} Helmut Schödel: Theater pirates. How does a free group live and survive. In: Die ZEIT . Munich April 8, 1977.
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} Angie Weihs: Free Theater: Reports and pictures that encourage people to see, learn and participate. Rowohlt, Reinbek near Hamburg 1981, ISBN 3-499-17439-1 , p. 135-143 .
3. ^ ^{A b} Thomas Thieringer: Survival with theater. The FTM turns 40 and can be celebrated in the I-Camp. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung . No. 235 . Munich October 11, 2011.
4. ^ The FTM - Free Theater Munich. In: Homepage of the FTM. Retrieved February 7, 2020 . 
5. ↑ ^{a b} Production documentation in the archive of the FTM homepage. (PDF) Retrieved January 20, 2020 . 
6. ↑ State Capital Munich Editor: Theater Prize. Accessed January 31, 2020 . 
7. ↑ State Capital of Munich Editor: Individual project funding for independent theater professionals 2019. Accessed on January 31, 2020 . 
8. ↑ Matthias Hejny: When Pink Floyd was new. The Free Theater Munich tells the story of a band in "Pop Amok". In: evening newspaper . Munich November 18, 2019.
9. ↑ Dagmar Müller: Cluttering runners, educational jogging in the i-camp theater . No. 214 . Süddeutsche Zeitung, September 17, 2007.
10. ^ Malve Gradinger: shock theater in the i-camp . No. 212 . Münchner Merkur, September 14, 2007.
11. ↑ Dagmar Müller: Disruptive factor freedom . No. 219 . Süddeutsche Zeitung, September 23, 2007.
12. ↑ B. Welter: The sweat is the program here . tz Munich, September 16, 2007.
13. ↑ Gabrielle Lorenz: Jesus disrupts order . Evening newspaper (AZ), September 21, 2007.
14. ↑ Silvia Stammen: Rebirth from coffee grounds . Theater today, October 2010.
15. ↑ Mathias Hejny: coffee grounds reading about the great Ataturk . Münchner Abendzeitung, August 1, 2010.
16. ↑ Malve Gradinger: Up-to-date and form-conscious . Münchner Merkur, October 11, 2010.
17. ↑ productions and guest performances. (PDF; 91 kB) In: frei-theater-muenchen.de. Retrieved March 21, 2020 .