Theatre Design & Technology - Summer 1993 - 34

beginning, first by the Soviet Union and
larer by the GDR government. Theatre
was easier ro offer rhan food and drink in
those early days. The arrs and culture
became an integral part of society.
Authors who had been banned for the
previous 12 years appeared again in the
programs. Bertold Brecht rerurned to
Germany from his exile and founded the
Berliner Ensemble. His works became
world famous. They became rheatre hisrory and shaped a whole generation of
rheatre people.
Walrer Felsenstein became the head
of the Komische Opel', inventing a whole
new style of musical theatre, and his
influence reached far beyond the borders
of the GDR. More rhan 70 permanent
theatre ensembles were founded over the
years, along with more than 120 orchesrras, choirs, Volkskllnstenselilbles, and
other, locally funded art instirutions.
Eighty percent of all rheatre buildings
had ro be rebuilt. This figure included
many great theatres: the l\ationaltheatre
\\Ieimar and rhe GroBe HallS in Dresden;
later, after the war, the famous Semper
Opera, the Lindenoper in Berlin, the
VolksblllJlle Berlin, the Opel'llhalls Chemnitz, and the Friedrichstadtplliast, which
was one of the largest and most modern
revue thearres-it is impossible ro mention them all.
NI of these great performance spaces
offered meatre; much was good, some was
not, bur a number of place staged the
very best. We technicians did not always
get what we would have wished for. Bur
we gOt by, with much imagination and
improvisation, much like in all other
industries at the time in our country.
Everything had ro be carefully planned:
how many steel profiles needed for the
year, how much wood, how much theatre
linen, how many screws, spot-lights, etc.
Most of the time we got less than we
had planned. Bur we knew how the sysrem worked and how ro work with it.
The qualit), of the artistic work suffered
very little from these problems. Modern
technology and plenty of good material
for scenic decorations can be very helpful
for the work on stage, bur they are not
the only prerequisites for an artistically
satisf)'ing performance.
\X!hen the GroBe HallS in Dresden
opened again in 1948, the lighting system consisred almost entirely of salvaged
equipment from the burned-out Semper
Opem. The original mechanical equipment, wirh the main hydraulic parts
installed in 1913, is still working roday'
All the controls were manual, with 72
mechanical loops for a srage of 400 m 2 .
Still, we offered great opera, with rhe
32

1993 SUMMER

TD&T

best international performers: Josef Keilberrh, Rudolf Kempe, Christel Goltz,
Peter Schreier, Bohme, Trotschel, and
many more. r,!any of them have performed in the United States, but this was
a long time ago. I cannot expect that you,
my dear friends, share my enthusiasm
about the golden era of opera in Dresden.
arurally, work in the
theatre cannot be isolated from processes
that happen in the rest
of society. After all,
economic and political changes of unknown proportions
were taking place ar this time. The land
reform was enacted, which disrribured
farmland ro workers and refugees from
rhe former Eastern tetrirory of Germany.
Large- and medium-sized industries were
nationalized. Many times rhese Volkseigene Betriebe (people-owned companies) consisted only of empty buildings,
partly in ruins. r.!achines and other
equipment had been dismantled and
shipped ro the Soviet Union as reparanons.
These developments led ro the migration of much of the technological elite ro
the West, where their old companies had
headquarters. Often they rook with them
technical documents, the results of
research, and patents. Many other were
enlisted ro go ro the Soviet Union, where
most of them had ro work for many years
in the military-industrial complex.
Productivity in the Zone continuously sank until the end of the 1940s. I can
well remember the year 1948, when I was
nor yet working at the theatre, as the
most difficult. Nothing was left, the food
crisis was complete, heating material was
almost impossible ro find. There were
thearres in Berlin and Dresden which
sold rickets only for briquettes or coal.
In those days, performances were
held in inns, dance halls, and churches.
Even well known theatres like the Staatsoper Dresden roured the countryside.
Joseph Keilberr, the world-famous conducror, rode with the technicians on the
equipmenr truck, in part because he
enjoyed a game of cards wirh rhem.
In general, this time of crisis was also
a great time of friendship and murual
help for theatre ensembles. Thearre people felt like a close-knit, dedicated com.
.
.
munlty, a communlry 111 an emergency,
which was srill able, under the worst of
working conditions, to put on worldclass performances. These performances
gave rhe people-who were trying under

often much worse condition ro rebuild
the country-a little optimism and hope.
In the theatres, the people found what
they knew they would find: a culrural
home. Outside, orienration was more
complicated. They confronted a foreign
system of management that was not suited ro solve the terrible problems in an
adequate way and that was never really
able ro motivare the people.
Many of us did not want this system.
Beginning in 1949, some-later more
and more-left the country ro go ro the
\X!est. And everyone who left was missed
in some place. This kind of resistance
never srops. I, roo, thought about leaving, because I did not like the system
either. I did not go. I continued ro work
ar the theatre, which made staying easier
for me; it helped me ro find my own
identity in this new GDR, even though it
rook a long rime, almost 20 years.
In Dresden I witnessed the workers'
uprising in 1953 and its end by Russian
ranks. II' was a shock, especially ro us who
made thearre: How could we perform
afrer rhis had happened' They had
shown us our limits, harshly and brurally.
The quesrion of who had the power in
our stare was answered, leaving no doubt.
It was a logical answer. The lines were
drawn between the cold warriors and our
hopes for change, maybe even unification
with the other parr of Germany. It was
jusr roo unrealistic. If I had thought
more clearly about this at the rime, I
would have realized it. Today, 40 years
larer, the circumstances are easier to
understand, the events are less confusing.
I don't dare question the sense of the
irrarional and often insane efforr of millions of people ro build a better alrernative ro rhe capiralisr world order on the
one hand, and the still ongoing efforr of
the other half of the world ro perfect just
this same capitalist system. The question
is presumptuous, I know. But this question ro a great degree keeps our work
alive, the question about our ability ro
change the world.
Theatre can show that the world can
be changed, according ro Bertold Brecht.
We continued ro play his works, his
didactic theatre. Sezllan was not a place
in the GDR. Mauler, the king of the
meat industry, that was Chicago; Johanna would have had different duties now;
and the beggars and thieves of the
Dreigroschenoper certainly lay behind us.
\X!e discussed these ropics with much scientific precision and political superiority,
wirh only a mere hisrorical inrerest. How
could we have known rhen that ir rhey
formed our future, roday's reality?
Yes, the world can change, but when

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Summer 1993