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University of Alberta Adaptation and the Postdramatic: A Study of Heiner Müller in Non-European Performance by Kimberley Jean Kelly McLeod A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Department of Drama © Kimberley Jean Kelly McLeod Fall 2009 Edmonton, Alberta Permission is hereby granted to the University of Alberta Libraries to reproduce single copies of this thesis and to lend or sell such copies for private, scholarly or scientific research purposes only. Where the thesis is converted to, or otherwise made available in digital form, the University of Alberta will advise potential users of the thesis of these terms. 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Examining Committee Dr. Piet Defraeye, Drama Dr. Rosalind Kerr, Drama Dr. Adrian Del Caro, Modern Languages and Cultural Studies Prof. Sven Miller, Drama Abstract In his plays, Heiner Müller uses postdramatic techniques to challenge audiences. Adaptations of his work tend to either engage with these techniques or attempt to make his work more comprehensible for audiences. In this thesis, I will investigate examples of Müller adaptations from different geographic locations outside of Europe. Each example uses a play by Müller to explore contemporary political issues. I will first cover the trend of adapting Müller textually, and the problems inherent in this process. Then I will provide an in-depth analysis of El Periférico de Objetos’ Máquina Hamlet. This production, which is an Argentinean adaptation of Müller’s seminal play Hamletmachine, uses postdramatic techniques that place spectators at the forefront in the production of meaning. As a result, Máquina Hamlet is able to link Müller not only to the political history of Argentina, but also to the history of violence in the world. Acknowledgements I would like to thank David Messer for his encouragement, inspiration and excellent proofreading skills. Thank you for debating with me and listening to my ideas. To my parents, Jacqueline Kelly and Rowland McLeod, thank you for always supporting me. I am extremely appreciative of my fellow graduate students for all their support. I am especially grateful to Alison Urban for all her enthusiasm and help. Thank you to my fellow IdeaAssassin, Cortney. Working with you has been a source of inspiration. Thank you for all the theory talk, and for all your advice and encouragement. Many thanks to the faculty and staff of the University of Alberta’s Department of Drama. I am extremely grateful for all of the opportunities I have had here. In particular, I would like to thank Dr. Rosalind Kerr for inspiring and challenging me in class, and for sitting on my committee. Thank you to Dr. Adrian Del Caro for sitting on my committee and Prof. Sven Miller for chairing it. I am indebted to The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada for the funding I received through a Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarship. Finally, I would like to thank my supervisor, Dr. Piet Defraeye, for constantly challenging and encouraging me. Your guidance both in classes and with my thesis has been outstanding. Working with you has been a joyful and inspiring experience. Table of Contents 1. Introduction 1 2. Chapter One: (Re)contextualizing Heiner Müller Heiner Müller: Life and Work 14 Hamletmachine: The Seminal Work 18 Heiner Müller in Production 23 Theoretical Approaches 25 Heiner Müller: Contemporary Iterations outside of Europe 30 Production Examples 32 3. Chapter Two: El Periférico de Objetos’ Máquina Hamlet El Periférico de Objetos 43 El Periférico de Objetos’ Máquina Hamlet 47 Defining Intermediality 52 Intermediality in Máquina Hamlet 57 Máquina Hamlet: Emphasizing the Uncanny 61 (Inter)Subjectivity in Máquina Hamlet 65 Spectators as Co-Writers, Victims, Perpetrators and More 73 Máquina Hamlet and the Historical Cycle of Violence 81 Máquina Hamlet: The Intersubjective Nature of Mediated Images 100 Remaining Questions 103 4. Conclusion 106 5. Bibliography 111 List of Figures Figure 1. Máquina Hamlet: The Cast 51 Figure 2. Máquina Hamlet: Manipulating a Puppet 51 Figure 3. Máquina Hamlet: Claudius 66 Figure 4. Máquina Hamlet: The Lottery 68 Figure 5. Máquina Hamlet: The Müller-Puppet 69 Figure 6. Máquina Hamlet: Destroying Müller 72 Figure 7. Máquina Hamlet: The Slideshow 77 Figure 8. Máquina Hamlet: The Puppet Show 79 Figure 9. Máquina Hamlet: Rat Masks 83 Figure 10. Frames from Maus 83 Figure 11. Cartoon from Der Stürmer (March 1937) 84 Figure 12. Photo of graffiti in Innsbrück 84 Figure 13. Argentinean Military Flyer 90 Figure 14. Madres de Plaza de Mayo 92 Figure 15. Government Workers in Argentina 93 Figure 16. Máquina Hamlet: Hamlet Stabs Gertrude 95 Introduction It is not through the direct thematization of the political that theatre becomes political but through the implicit substance and critical value of its mode of representation. (Hans-Thies Lehmann, 178) While many new plays use non-realistic elements, North American theatre is still steeped in dramatic traditions in which political subjects are either addressed through linear narrative and clearly defined characters or through documentary approaches. These elements are generally written into dramatic scripts, which are viewed as the paramount component in any production. While these traditions are still present in some European theatre, in Europe there is a greater appreciation of and appetite for so-called postdramatic theatre, which may or may not use dramatic texts. While in North America, the categorization of political theatre is frequently reserved for plays that address topical political subjects, such as current wars and immigration debates, in postdramatic theatre, as Hans-Thies Lehmann states above, the political is explored through theatre as a mode of representation. Heiner Müller is a clear example of a postdramatic playwright who embraces the “implicit substance and critical value” of theatre as a mode of representation. Müller lived and worked in Germany during the Cold War. In his plays, he uses postdramatic “projections” of history to highlight present issues (Calandra 119). Unlike the historical allegories of Shakespeare and Brecht, Müller complicates the relationship of past and present through postdramatic techniques. He shatters this mirroring of present society and past 1 events by complicating substitution between contemporary figures and historical ones through a fracturing of voices and use of pastiche. Daniel Listoe believes that rather than showing historical events as other playwrights and authors do, “Müller goes all the way to the nerve centre of perception, to how we see history and what it is that masks our perceptions” (103). This focus on perception highlights both the similarities and gaps between history and present political events. Müller's postdramatic aesthetics can be situated within a greater trajectory of the history of the dramatic text and the elements it employs, such as characters and a linear narrative. The questioning of the role of these elements in the theatre is not a new phenomenon. Rather, it can be traced back to the Ancient Greeks and Aristotle’s seminal work of theatre criticism, Poetics. In this text, Aristotle introduces such terms as catharsis and mimesis. While not meant as a prescriptive document, definitions of these terms – and debates about them – have dominated theatre practice and criticism even into the twentieth-century. Aristotle’s statements about what makes a plot, the types of characters in a tragedy and the necessary unity of action have all influenced the concept of a well-made play and the primacy of the text in Western theatre. In both the Renaissance and French Neo-Classical era, definitions and rules about what an appropriate theatre piece consists of were rife. During the Enlightenment, Gotthold Ephraim Lessing argued for a return to classical values in the theatre, and Aristotle’s Poetics in particular.

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