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Hoping for the Unexpected: the Theatre of Peter Zadek
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 January 2009
Abstract
Over the last three decades the work of Peter Zadek in Germany has consistently aroused strong reactions, whether of lavish enthusiasm or disdainful rejection (Peter Stein is supposed to have commented that Zadek's productions of Shakespeare were ‘Shakespeare with his trousers down’). Whatever the critical reception, Zadek's work demands close attention for its free-wheeling, unpredictable, and dangerous qualities, as well as for the remarkably sensitive interplay he achieves between his actors. If Stein's productions at the Schaubühne and elsewhere are masterpieces of formal perfection, Zadek's work by contrast is characterized by a flamboyant, imaginative exploration of the text and a healthy suspicion of polished results. In the interview which follows, Roy Kift discussed with Peter Zadek not only his attitudes to the problems of acting, but also his opinions on German theatre and literature and the experiences which shaped his development as one of West Germany's leading directors. Roy Kift has been living in West Berlin since 1981, where he has written plays for stage and radio and a prizewinning opera libretto, as well as directing for theatre and television. His article on the GRIPS Theater in Berlin appeared in TQ 39 (1981).
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- Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1985
References
Notes and References
1. At the time of the interview Zadek had just signed a contract to take over the artistic directorship of the Deutsches Schauspielhaus in Hamburg from the season 1985–86.
2. Nevill Coghill was an Oxford don who directed many Shakespeare plays with OUDS, and later wrote the West End hit musical Canterbury Tales. It is interesting to note that Richard Burton played Angelo in the production mentioned of Measure for Measure.
3. Kurt Hübner was the man who gave Zadek his first regular work when he was artistic director at Ulm. When he moved to Bremen in 1962 he took Zadek with him. Hübner is now the Artistic Director at the Freie Volksbühne in West Berlin.
4. At the Freie Volksbuhne in Berlin. This was a modern adaptation of Molière's play by Hans Magnus Enzenberger, very similar in its approach to Tony Harrison's version at the National Theatre in Britain.
5. Zadek has directed Measure for Measure three times and seems particularly fascinated by the play: in 1949 with students at RADA in London; in 1960 in Ulm; and in 1967 in Bremen.
6. Losing Time by John Hopkins is set in New York, and its themes include rape and casual sex. It was a flop in the US, but Zadek's production in Hamburg, which opened in November 1984, has proved a massive success, and was invited, together with his production of Ghetto by Joshua Sobol, to the annual Berlin Theatertreffen in May 1985.
7. Zadek's production for the Bavarian State Theatre in Münich, which was invited to the Berlin Theatertreffen in May 1984, starred Hans Michael Rehberg as Solness and Barbara Sukowa as Hilde Wangel.
8. Ulrich Wildgruber's work as an actor has almost exclusively been confined to Zadek. He has played such roles as Lancelot in The Merchant of Venice (1972), Trigorin in The Seagull (1973), and the title roles in King Lear, Othello, and Hamlet. His latest role is Bosola in The Duchess of Malfi.
9. St Pauli is the red light district in Hamburg.
10. The Armenian designer Rouben Ter-Arutunian worked on the production of Malfi. Other designers who have worked withe Zadek include Goetz Loepelmann, Johannes Grützke, John Gunter, and above all Wilfried Minks.
11. In fact, at that time Zadek was 31.