Theater criticism
Theater criticism deals with the critical reporting ( review ) of stage works .
Essence
Theater criticism differs from literary criticism in that it is based on a single, only partially repeatable process on the stage. She brings almost all arts into a context of mutual reflection and commentary. In doing so, she proceeds both descriptively and interpretively, classifying and evaluating. The style of theatrical criticism is columnar without any scientific claim; its addressees are laypeople and experts. The effect is difficult to assess, it depends largely on the reputation of the critic and the publication organ. It can have an influence on cultural and funding policy. The criteria and intentions of the judgment are often controversial.
history
Theater criticism developed in the 18th century with the emergence of a critical press. Gotthold Ephraim Lessing is considered the first theater critic. Although he himself was an employee of the Hamburg National Theater , he not only dealt with fundamental aesthetic issues , as handed down in the Hamburg Dramaturgy , but also discussed the individual performances.
Constant theater criticism established itself at the end of the 18th century. The focus was initially on poets who saw theater criticism as a forum for their aesthetic programs. Ludwig Tieck developed his romantic conception of the theater in the Dresdner Abendzeitung , while Ludwig Börne , Heinrich Heine , Heinrich Laube and Moritz Gottlieb Saphir expressed the demands of the young Germany .
The 19th century saw gradual specialization in acting, opera and ballet criticism. Theodor Fontane's reviews published in the Vossische Zeitung from 1870 to 1890 , in which he was reluctant to stage court theater and open to naturalistic performances, were significant .
In the first decades of the 20th century Siegfried Jacobsohn , Julius Bab , Alfred Kerr and Herbert Ihering wrote important theater reviews in Berlin . Kerr published his pointed comments in the Berliner Tageblatt , while Ihering in the Berliner Börsen-Courier addressed less newspaper readers than theater people.
During the National Socialist era , the term “theater criticism” was abolished. In the Völkischer Beobachter of November 28, 1936, Joseph Goebbels stated :
“In place of the previous art criticism, which was turned into an art judiciary in the time of Jewish art infiltration, the art report will be placed as of today; the art editor takes the place of the critic. The art report should be less of an evaluation than a representation and thus an appreciation. (...) He demands education, tact, a decent disposition and respect for artistic will. Only editors will be able to discuss artistic achievements in the future who undertake this task with the purity of the heart and the attitude of the National Socialists. "
In the GDR , the professionally authorized theater criticism was gathered in the magazine Theater der Zeit , which has been published since 1946 . The decisive criterion was socialist realism . Since the 1970s, however, many critics have supported artistically innovative productions. Due to frequent official interventions in the editorial offices, critics such as Christoph Funke and Ingeborg Pietzsch in Berlin or Lothar Ehrlich in Dresden developed a subtle, carefully veiled, subtext-related style. In West Berlin was Friedrich air during the whole time of the division of Germany as a theater critic a well-known and had "the voice of criticism" in the RIAS weekly his own mission.
Theater critics today are freelance or full-time journalists who, above all, watch and report on the new productions on the stages accessible to them for the media (newspaper, radio, television).
Important theater critics in Germany
Heinz Ritter (1927-2015)
literature
- Vasco Boenisch: Is Criticism Crisis? : what theater critics think - and what their readers expect . Berlin 2008, Theater der Zeit, ISBN 978-3-940737-26-7 , ( table of contents ).
- Gunther Nickel (ed.): Contributions to the history of theater criticism . Tübingen 2007, Francke (= Mainz research on drama and theater; vol. 35), ISBN 978-3-7720-8207-8 .
- Gunther Nickel: The differentiation and professionalization of theater criticism between 1870 and 1933 . 2006, ( e-text on satt.org ).
- Stephan Porombka, Kai Splittgerber: Writing about theater. Workshop discussions with theater critics . (= Young cultural journalism; Vol. 2). Glück and Schiller, Hildesheim 2005, ISBN 3-938404-06-X .
- Heike Adamski: servants, schoolmasters and visionaries. Studies on the Berlin theater criticism of the Weimar Republic . Lang, Frankfurt am Main et al. 2004, ISBN 3-631-53163-X (plus dissertation, University of Leipzig 2004).
- Tobias Hoffmann-Allenspach: Theater criticism in German-speaking Switzerland since 1945 . (= Swiss Theater Yearbook; vol. 59 / materials from ITW Bern; 6). Chronos, Basel 1998, ISBN 3-905312-96-4 .
- Lothar Schöne: News from the center of the world. The battle for the theater in the Weimar Republic . Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 1995, ISBN 3-534-12379-4 .
- Werner Schulze-Reimpell / Roland Dreßler: Theater criticism . in: Manfred Brauneck , Gérard Schneilin (ed.): Theater Lexikon 1. Terms and epochs, stages and ensembles . Rowohlt Taschenbuch Verlag Reinbek near Hamburg, 5th completely revised new edition August 2007, ISBN 978-3-499-55673-9 .