Dramaturgie im zeitgenössischen Tanz ist ? positiv gemeint ? ein heißes Eisen. Idealerweise sind Dramaturginnen und Dramaturgen während der Erarbeitung eines Stücks die besten Freunde der Choreografen. more
Monday 5 December, 2005
Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 05.12.2005
With marked bitterness, the Iraqi poet and publisher Khalid al-Maaly
comments on Saddam Hussein's appearance in court. "The executioner, who
like other executioners before him seeks a haven in oblivion, is now
claiming that he no longer knows anything of his deeds and other
carryings-on. He's now demanding his rights, including the right to a
lawyer. Saddam has committed every crime you can think of – and any
number of others which are unthinkable. It's astounding that he now
enters court with the Koran in his hand. One inevitably thinks of all
those tragedies in the course of history, in particular Arab
history. The worst massacres are committed when holy books are
brandished, or they have been committed already. And the victims, who
can never forget, can only watch the spectacle."
Frankfurter Rundschau, 05.12.2005
Finally! The republic is honing its response to the rioting in the banlieues.
French politicians have charged seven rappers and handed in a draught
law to combat all forms of "injury to the dignity of France and the
state". Martina Meister can only shake her head. "Hip Hop is answering the accusations thrown at the rioting youth from all sides: it is articulating
the unease and the hate. Because this is precisely what France's
intellectuals were complaining about, that this 'blind hatred' was not
coupled with demands of any sort, that it was not a means to a
political end. The rappers have answered this cultural witch trial.
Axiom First, a rapper from Lille, followed the example of Boris Vian
and composed a letter to the president. With the Marseillaise in
the background, he raps out a condemnation of 30 years of racism,
30 years of blindness and 30 years of discrimination: 'My grandparents
defended this country in the War, my parents helped rebuild it,' the
lyrics say."
Die Welt, 05.12.2005
Is the German Wikipedia being taken over by communist nostalgia? Guido Heinen lists several pertinent cases: "In the article on Fidel Castro, for example, there is practically nothing about violations of human rights. All phrases that could ruffle the feathers of the maximo lider have been systematically deleted by an apparently intractable Castro fan. The crude rationale: as long as they are not discussed in detail, listing them is 'not neutral'. The disbelief many users expressed in the accompanying discussion board has yet to have any effect on the article's wording." Meanwhile, the advertising industry is also attacking Wikipedia: "A few days ago in Spain, marketing expert Steve Rubel published a detailed guide on how to manipulate Wikipedia."
Saturday 3 December, 2005
Die Welt, 03.12.2005
Andrea Seibel is full of admiration for Polish reporter Ryszard Kapuscinski's new book, "Travels with Herodotus": "At the age of 73, his body weak from recurrences of malaria, tuberculosis and ravaged by six bypasses, he is still as restless as ever. For him the time remaining is a luxury, and he reveals the secret of his life and work: Kapuscinski had a travel guide by the name of Herodotus. His book, 'The History', written two and a half thousand years ago, was given him by his boss, Mrs Tarlowska ('From me, for your travels', what a clever boss!). He began to read it in India. That's where 'I started developing a strong liking for him', because Herodotus, the first chronicler of antiquity, took a 'kindly view of humanity, was curious about the world, full of questions and always ready to travel thousands of kilometres' to find the answers."
Thirty years after the death of philosopher Hannah Arendt, Hannes Stein talks to
Green MEP Daniel Cohn-Bendit, who even back in the seventies understood what a
great thinker this friend of his parents was. When asked how he
explained the love between Hannah Arendt and Martin Heidegger, he
replied, "There can be no philosophical or rational explanation for
love and sex. I always say that Hannah Arendt is the Madonna of
philosophy. Madonna is a woman who says: I will have the man I want.
Whether this means Christ, who she famously took down from the cross in
one of her videos, or her sports instructor – she can just take her
pick."
Der Tagesspiegel, 03.12.2005
The Berlin cabaret singer Max Raabe and his Palast Orchester evidently
brought the house down in the New York Carnegie Hall. According to
Matthias B. Krause, "The audience was putty in his hands after only a
few bars, they adored his introductions to the songs, the way he chews
through the select English words, stretching them out and cloaking them
in such pregnant pauses, that by the time he's done, he only needs to raise half an eyebrow and the audience is in stitches.
Meticulously dressed as ever in 20s and 30s chic, Raabe oscillates
around the mike stand like a bean pole, using only the most minimal of
gestures to accompany the extensive baritone
vocal gamut he handles with such ease. The finale unleashed a thunderous storm of applause which
didn't subside until after the fourth encore. Extatic 70-year-old New
York ladies threatened to go through the floor with all their feet
stamping, while au pair girls clapped their hands raw."
Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 03.12.2005
After Andrea Breth's much acclaimed version in May (see "In Today's Feuilletons" of May 2), Jürgen Gosch has staged Anton Chekhov's "The Cherry Orchard" in Zurich. One by one the critics have panned the production, among them Barbara Villiger Heilig, who writes that Gosch's staging not only missed the point, it "missed the entire play": "The expectations, and the pressure, were running high. Before Gosch's directing debut in Zurich, reports had been circulating for some time about the successes the 62-year-old East German had booked up in other theatres, for example in Bochum while Matthias Hartmann was artistic director. But theatrical success cannot be programmed, and Zurich tends to be unlucky. Chekhov's plays cannot stand up to the nervous pressure here that weighs down new productions and bullies them into submission from the first moment. They explode like over-inflated balloons."