A German Life By Christopher Hampton EDUCATION RESOURCE Resource developed by Deanne Bullen 2021 Copyright protects this Education Resource. Except for purposes permitted by the Copyright Act, reproduction by whatever means is prohibited. However, limited photocopying for classroom use only is permitted by educational institutions. The content remains the property of Adelaide Festival Corporation, 2021. The Adelaide Festival Education Program is generously supported by Lang Foundation & Thyne Reid Foundation Contents 26 Feb - 14 Mar 2021 A German Rundown on the show .......................................................................................... 1 Life Warnings .......................................................................................................... 1 EDUCATION Themes .......................................................................................................... 2 RESOURCE Production .......................................................................................................... 2 CONTENTS Characters .......................................................................................................... 2 RUNDOWN & WARNINGS Curriculum links .......................................................................................................... 3 THEMES, PRODUCTION & CURRICULUM Theatre etiquette .................................................................................................. 4 BEFORE THE SHOW Performance literacy .................................................................................................. 5 AFTER THE SHOW Getting started .......................................................................................................... 6 ABOUT THE COMPANY A German Life - the documentary .......................................................................... 8 ADDITIONAL RESOURCES The Playwright of A German Life ............................................................................ 9 Analyse & apply ...................................................................................................... 10 Questions to ponder .................................................................................................11 Critical responses to theatre .................................................................................11 Meet the company ....................................................................................................12 Additional resources - Timelines .........................................................................13 Additional resources ................................................................................................ 20 Show overview 26 Feb - 14 Mar 2021 A German Australian Premiere / Australian Exclusive Life 90 minute show – no interval WARNINGS Content EDUCATION January 2017, at a nursing home in Munich, Brunhilde Pomsel, passed away RESOURCE at the age of 106. Her achievements were pretty modest, although she was • This production may contain undoubtedly a wiz at shorthand. How then did she come to emerge from the documentary footage that may rubble near Hitler’s bunker waving a white pillow case to the approaching Russian distress some students CONTENTS troops in April 1945? RUNDOWN & WARNINGS British playwright Christopher Hampton has fashioned an extraordinary theatrical tour-de-force based on testimony of this resolutely ‘apolitical’ woman, who THEMES, PRODUCTION worked as a secretary to Joseph Goebbels. & CURRICULUM One of the last actively involved witnesses to the rise, fall and aftermath of the Third Reich, Brunhilde is intelligent and likeable, honest and credible. She doesn’t BEFORE THE SHOW hide her youthful ignorance at the regime’s atrocities, her awe at finding herself at the heart of power, nor does she show any false remorse. Her refusal to think AFTER THE SHOW too hard about what was going on and focus instead on her own life, raises ABOUT THE COMPANY confronting questions for contemporary audiences. As social catastrophe creeps closer and only united action can stop it, how do we recognise that ADDITIONAL RESOURCES moment? How do we seize it? Christopher Hampton’s succinct monologue is based on the 30 hours of interviews which Pomsel gave to a group of Austrian filmmakers. Their documentary, Ein Deutsches Leben (A German Life), was released in 2016. 1 Themes, production & characters 26 Feb - 14 Mar 2021 A German Themes Characters Life Key themes: Brunhilde Pomsel played by Robyn Nevin EDUCATION • World War II RESOURCE Brundhilde Pomsel was a • Memories secretary to Joseph Goebbels, • Morality CONTENTS the Reich Minister of Propaganda • Social conscience of Nazi Germany. She started RUNDOWN & WARNINGS work at the ministry’s offices in the Ordenspalais opposite the THEMES, PRODUCTION Reich Chancellery in Berlin in & CURRICULUM Production 1942. In 2016, aged 105, she attended the premiere of BEFORE THE SHOW A German Life, a documentary Style and Conventions film made from a series of AFTER THE SHOW Monologue, with archival video interviews she had given. projected onto the set and live ABOUT THE COMPANY cello used as transitions between monologue. ADDITIONAL RESOURCES Music and Sound Original composition for cello by Alan John. Sound design system by Jane Rossetto. Set and Costume Design Minimal set: basic bed, lounge chair set as if in a hospice. Cello is offside but on stage and light in the transitions. A hanging grid frames Brunhilde room and soft lighting changes used in the transition. Top: Brunhilde Pomsel at her typewriter. Bottom: Pomsel in A German Life documentary. Photographs: Blackbox Film. 2 Stage 1 – DRAMA – LEARNING REQUIREMENTS Curriculum links 1. Understand and explore dramatic roles, conventions, 26 Feb - 14 Mar 2021 texts, styles, processes, and technologies 2. Apply dramatic ideas and processes collaboratively to realise outcomes 3. Apply dramatic skills to create and present drama This education resource has been developed with links to: A German outcomes SACE Stage 1 and 2 – the resources are created with links 4. Explore and experiment with technologies to Life and in relation to the subject outlines for: provide creative solutions • Drama 5. Analyse and evaluate dramatic ideas, products, EDUCATION and/or technologies RESOURCE • English • Modern History 6. Demonstrate critical and creative thinking in the development of drama Links are made with learning requirements within each of these CONTENTS subjects in relation to the knowledge, skills and understanding Stage 1 – MODERN HISTORY – students are expected to develop and demonstrate through their RUNDOWN & WARNINGS LEARNING REQUIREMENTS learning. 1. Understand and explore historical concepts. THEMES, PRODUCTION A German Life provides teachers with the opportunity to approach 2. Understand and explore the role of ideas, people, & CURRICULUM teaching and learning utilising a multidisciplinary or interdisciplinary and events in history approach, i.e. covering an idea/topic integrating multiple knowledge 3. Analyse developments and or movements in the modern BEFORE THE SHOW domains. This approach will enhance the scope and depth of world and their short term and long term impacts. learning. The learning students undertake will prepare them to fully AFTER THE SHOW 4. Analyse ways in which societies in the modern world immerse in the experience of the stage production – A German Life. have been shaped by both internal and external forces and challenges ABOUT THE COMPANY HOW TO USE THE BEFORE AND AFTER THE SHOW ACTIVITIES: 5. Apply the skills of historical inquiry to examine and evaluate sources and interpretations, and support arguments ADDITIONAL RESOURCES Drama students have the opportunity to delve into interviews and 6. Draw conclusions and communicate reasoned historical texts and essays to be able to demonstrate critical and historical arguments creative thinking in the development of drama. The Before the Show activities will provide support to evaluate and analyse the production of A German Life. Stage 1 – ENGLISH – LEARNING REQUIREMENTS Modern History students are provided with the opportunity to 1. Analyse relationships between purpose, audience, and explore and investigate the concepts of persecution and morality context, and how these influence texts and their meaning through history. The suggested supporting texts for A German Life 2. Identify ways in which ideas and perspectives are also provide contemporary insight into the investigation of this represented in texts concept, which will then be brought to life on the stage. 3. Analyse how language and stylistic features and conventions are used to convey ideas and English students have the opportunity to examine the presentation perspectives in texts of three different text types – film (documentary), print and script 4. Create oral, written, and/or multimodal texts for and investigate how ideas and perspectives are represented and particular purposes, audiences, and contexts the language and stylistic conventions used. 5. Identify and analyse intertextual connections 3 Theatre etiquette 26 Feb - 14 Mar 2021 A German The French word etiquette, and its meaning in relation to a code of conduct, was adopted by English speakers in the middle of the 18th Century. Life This can sound a bit formal but having an understanding of “theatre etiquette” helps an audience know what to expect and how to get the most out of their theatre experience. EDUCATION RESOURCE What to expect: An usher will help you find your seat and you need to follow