Analyzes not just Müller's texts but also the theatrical events that
emerged from them, showing that from the beginning of his career Müller
tried to create democracy both within and outside the theater.
The East German playwright Heiner Müller (1929-1995) is one of the most
influential European dramatists and theater directors since Brecht.
While critical literature on Müller often discusses the politics of his
works, analysis tends to stop at the level of the text, neglecting the
theatrical events that emerge from it and the audiences for which it was
written and performed. Situating his study within Müller's interests in
democracy and audience activity, Michael Wood addresses these gaps in
scholarship, making an original contribution to the understanding of
Müller's work as playwright and director.
In 1985, Müller spoke of the importance of a "democratic" theater: one
thatconfronts theatergoers with densely contradictory material that they
must interpret for themselves, reflecting the complexity of material
reality and encouraging them to question their participation in
political life. Wood's studyshows that Müller sought to do this in his
combined 1988 production of Der Lohndrücker, Der Horatier, and
Wolokolamsker Chaussee IV: Kentauren, staged at a time when questions of
democracy were at the forefront of East German consciousness. It also
demonstrates that from the beginning of his career Müller tried to make
theater that would create a form of democracy both within and outside
the theater.
Michael Wood is a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow at the University
of Edinburgh, where he received his PhD in 2014.
