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1976, 1984, 1992, 2000

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 December 2021

Extract

The Mixed Media Company from Berlin, headed by Frank Burckner, based their piece on the work of Robert Jungk, the Austrian futurologist. The central intent of the piece was to create a debate in the mind of the spectator as to whether the world will end in disaster by the year 2000, or whether there will be international peace.

Burckner's group, numbering about 20, was especially formed for the Spielstrasse program and consisted of actors, students, workers, dancers, musicians, and puppet players. He started his piece (1976) on a platform near the Multivision Center, where the performers began to assemble the parts of what would later be a large, three-headed monster puppet. This figure symbolized capitalism, militarism and politics. The performers—some wearing elongated gold masks, military uniforms, and helmets, and others in various circus, athletic and other costumes—carried on a dialogue with the spectators, warning that the working man had to struggle to prevent his brain from being turned into a computer by the forces represented by the three-headed puppet.

Type
Olympic Theater
Copyright
Copyright © 1972 The Drama Review

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References

The photo above shows members of the Mixed Media Company from Berlin in a scene from 1992. They are towing the three-headed monster, representing Politics, Militarism, and Capitalism. The photo was taken by the author.