Τόλερ

by Tankred Dorst, Δημοσθένης Κούρτοβικ (Translator)

Θεατρογράφος της νέας μάλλον γενιάς του θεάτρου (γεννήθηκε το 1925, ο Τάνκρεντ Ντορστ επιχείρησε με τον ΤΟΛΕΡ (1968) να ανιχνεύσει την τραγική πορεία μιας επανάστασης προς τη συντριβή της, πάνω στο παράδειγμα της αποτυχημένης προσπάθειας να εγκαθιδρυθεί σοβιετική δημοκρατία στη Βαυαρία το 1919. Μας έδωσε έτσι ένα από τα λίγα πραγματικά πολιτικά έργα του παγκόσμιου ρεπερτορίου. Χρησιμοποιεί ένα ιστορικό γεγονός όχι για να κάνει ιστορικό θέατρο, αλλά για να μιλήσει για προβλήματα της δικής του εποχής.

(από το σημείωμα του μεταφραστή)

105 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1968

About the author

Tankred Dörst was a German playwright and storyteller. He was known for his plays, which included I, Feuerbach and Merlin oder das wüste Land, and his work as a screenwriter for film and television. Dorst's writing style was influenced by the theatre of the absurd and writers like Ionesco, Giraudoux, and Beckett. He received the Georg Büchner Prize and the Grimme Award.

Reviews

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Finding this play was somewhat embarrassing for me. Its subject is the same as my MA Thesis: the Bavarian Revolution of 1919 and the short-lived Bavarian Council Republic. It even implies more or less what I was arguing: that the whole thing is best understood as a theatrical presentation, rather than a serious attempt to form a government. He also makes the distinction I did: his characters say “Räterrepublik,” except for the Communists, who are the only ones to use the term “Sowjetrepublik,” although many English-language discussions reduce the whole event to a “Soviet Republic.” In short, I should have at least known this existed, and probably should have read it ten years ago.

On the whole, its obscurity is probably deserved. While it’s interesting from the point of view of a scholar who knows all the characters ahead of time, and may be necessary for someone serious about studying Expressionist theater, it doesn’t offer much to the novice reader or theater-goer. I found that most of the characters were pretty one-dimensional, except for Ernst Toller, the eponymous star of the piece, Eugen Leviné, the leading Communist agitator, and, surprisingly, Dr. Lipp, whose place in history is primarily assured by the telegram he sent to Lenin complaining about his missing lavatory key. Gustav Landauer, Erich Mühsam, and Karl Gandorfer are ciphers, while Otto Neurath and Max Levien are left out of the narrative entirely. Also, the piece begins after the death of Kurt Eisner, so we don’t get to see him. Mostly, the piece deals with the question of pacifism and revolution, appropriately enough for 1968, but missing a lot of the broader story of the Council Republic. The Communists are drawn as pragmatic but corrupt, while Toller, the pacifist, is a doomed idealistic dreamer.

This play is probably of interest mostly as a historical relic of the 1960s.