Dramaturgical Resources
2006
The Hour We Knew Nothing of Each Other
By Peter Handke
Over the course of the season, our assistant directors and student dramaturgs will be compiling dramaturgical resources relating to each production as it develops. Below are some links to websites which relate to the history of the play, the biography of the playwright, and sites that contextualize and, we hope, shed light on the directorial approach to the dramatic material.
We hope you find these resources of interest.
Peter Handke (b. 1942)
Peter Handke
The Peter Handke Site
This is probably the most extentsive of the Peter Handke sites on the web. A lot of it is in German, and the site is rather confusing to navigate. That being said, reviews (in English, as well as German) and pictures of theatrical productions of Handke's works can be found by roaming through the sites many pages.
The site's main portal can be found here.
Peter Handke's own website (alas, only in German) can be found here.
Critical Essays on Handke's Writings
Critical essays on Handke's plays, novels, memoirs and screenplays abound. Some are positive, some are decidedly negative.
Listing of Peter Handke's Plays
Handke's Early Plays
Especially Offending the Audience and (less so) Self-Accusation were often received by the public as scandalous.
A translator's point of view on these works, here.
Handke's Politics
Handke's political views have often been extremely controversial, no more so than his supposed support of the Serbian cause and Slobodan Mlosevic (or more accurately his anti-NATO stance) during the Yugoslavian crisis.
More on Handke's politics, here.
And more here.
Aristic Works that Defy the Norm With Their Use of Silence are Many
Some of the most famous are:
- John Cage's "silent" musical composition 4'33". For a recent review, click here.
- Samuel Beckett's play, Breath, the text of which can be found here.
- Beckett's Act Without Words I and II are also wordless, "mime" plays. More on them here and, on Wikipedia, here.
Urban Theaory
How we conceive of public spaces -- is a topic of endless discussion.
One website that explores these ideas and theories, with many interesting links, can be found, here.
Postmodernism
Handke's work falls, at times, clearly into the realm of what cultural and literary theorists call Postmodernism. For more on postmodernism, browse here or, more briefly, here.