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Hamletmachine

3-12 October 1991 Great Hall, The Arts Centre
production credits
Heiner Muller is the most performed living dramatic author in Germany and HAMLETMACHINE is his most striking and controversial play. Originally from the communist German Democratic Republic, his work has been performed not only all over Germany, but also all over the world. The Christchurch production is the first performance of a Heiner Muller play in New Zealand.

George Frosher and Kurt Bildstein are the directors of the Free Theatre Munich, one of the most established alternative professional theatres in Europe. Some of their recent productions in Germany include "Macbeth", "The Taming of the Shrew" and "Medea". They have also worked in Britain, the USA, Brazil and Israel.

They are in Christchurch at the invitation of Free Theatre Christchurch and their two month visit has been supported by the Goethe Institut with the support of the Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council. Most of the actors are students from the University of Canterbury Drama Programme.
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HAMLETMACHINE is not a true adaption of Shakespeare's play, but a reinterpretation of HAMLET for the 20th Century, in Muller's words "the shrunken head of the Hamlet tragedy". Muller regards it as a "comedy", but it also is an indictment of the failure of European civilisation and the white middle class intellectual represented by the original. In the failure of Hamlet and the revolt of Ophelia, HAMLETMACHINE points to the beginning of the disintegration of the dominant, rational European view of the world. Heiner Muller says: "The European concept of history is over, European politics of history is based on a Father principle. I see Asia as the rising of the maternal principle." Ophelia becomes Elektra and is equated with revolutionaries and "terrorists" like Rosa Luxemburg and Ulrike Meinhof. The last sentence of the play is a quotation from a member of the Charles Manson clan, "Squeaky" Fromme, who attempted to assassinate President Ford.
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Project Evaluation

Evaluation
By Peter Falkenberg for funding bodies
TV3 report on Hamletmachine, followed by uncut interview with Producer Peter Falkenberg and footage of the production. Additional TV3 production footage and interviews exists in our Free Theatre archives.

​Articles

Inspiring the space
Adrienne Rewi, The Press, September 18 1991

German drama directors challenge conventions
L.G., Chronicle

"Hamletmachine" October 3 to 12
unknown publication

Review

"Hamletmachine" is simply the most exciting theatre piece Christchurch has experienced in years.... If you go to the theatre to sit in the dark and scoff toffees, then "Hamletmachine" may not be your bucket of blood. But if you like your theatre seriously adult, intellectually stimulating, and downright inspiring, then "Hamletmachine" is the show for you.

​
Muller's 'HamletMachine'
Lex Matheson, The Press, 4 October 1991
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  • ABOUT
    • Manifestos and Writings
    • A brief history...
    • Who We Are
    • The University Connection
    • Shirley Horrocks documentary
    • Training and Devising
    • Home, Space and Design
  • HOME
  • WHATS ON
    • The Passionate Puritan
  • EDUCATION
    • Kids Holiday Programmes
    • Schools Workshops
    • Adult workshops
  • PRODUCTIONS 1979 - present
    • The Cat Eleonore
    • The Deadbeat Opera
    • Babylon Berlin
    • Beggars Banquet
    • Woyzeck
    • The Axe
    • Endgame
    • Digitising Performance
    • Erewhon: Over the Range
    • A Summer Night's Dream
    • How Dare You
    • A Winter's Tale
    • Ars Acustica
    • Alice
    • The Black Rider
    • Frankenstein
    • The Mauricio Kagel Project
    • Footprints/Tapuwae
    • Kafka's Amerika
    • Ubu Nights >
      • Past Ubu Nights >
        • Ma Ubu Night
        • Ubu Through the Looking Glass
        • Ubu in Wonderland Ubu Night
        • Frankenstein Ubu Night
        • Casablanca Ubu Night
        • Faust Ubu Night
        • Not Hamlet Ubu Night
        • Punk Ubu Night
        • The Art of the Deal Ubu Night
        • Crossroads Ubu Night
        • Ubu Shows Us the Way to Brecht's Whiskey Bar
        • The Devil and the Blues Ubu Night
        • Bowie Ubu Night
        • Warhol Ubu Night
        • Berlin Kabarette
        • Beat Ubu Night
        • Twin Peaks Ubu Night
        • David Lynch Ubu Night
        • Kafka Ubu Night
        • Tango Ubu Night
        • Ubu Ubu Night
        • Lovecraft Ubu Night
    • Canterbury Tales
    • The Soldier's Tale
    • Bluebeard's Castle >
      • Bluebeard's Castle credits
    • I Sing the Body Electric
    • Big Heads Protest
    • Hereafter
    • Passion, Pulse and Power
    • The Earthquake in Chile
    • Don Giovanni Invites you to Dinner
    • Doctor Faustus
    • The Marvellous Corricks >
      • Corricks - Credits
    • Distraction Camp
    • Remake
    • Ella and Susn
    • There and Back Again
    • Faust Chroma
    • Enigma Emmy Goering/Nico Sphinx of Ice
    • Change Proposal
    • Faust Feast
    • Diana Down Under
    • Philoctetes >
      • Production Credits - Piloctetes
    • Fantasia
    • Christmas Shopping
    • Grimm's Sleeping Beauty
    • Achternbusch in the Antipodes
    • Caucasian Chalk Circle
    • Samson Airline
    • Antigone
    • Kabarett Kabul
    • Footprints/Tapuwae
    • The Well Intentioned Wife
    • The Last Days of Mankind
    • Bakkhai / Diotek
    • Krapp's Last Tape
    • Murderer Hope of Women / The Philosopher's Stone
    • Comrade Savage
    • Love on a Bicycle
    • Crusoe: A Lapsarian Mass in Twelve Movements
    • Medea
    • Songs to the Judges
    • Resolution Island
    • Oedipus Rex/Oedipus at Colonus
    • The Empire Builders
    • States of Shock
    • Robinson Crusoe or: I That Was Born To Be My Own Destroyer
    • Power
    • MedeaMaterial
    • Salome
    • Electra
    • The Girl Who Sings Waterfalls
    • Hamletmachine
    • Oresteia
    • A Respectable Wedding
    • Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant
    • Cloudkiwiland
    • Double Act / Postponeless >
      • double act credits
    • Preversions
    • The Mortal Pleasure of Wander Lust
    • Red Cross & Takeaway
    • Lulu
    • Cowboy Mouth
    • The Meeting >
      • the meeting credits
    • Action / Tongues
    • The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny
    • A Letter from L
    • Dinosaurs and All the Rubbish / The Hunting of the Snark
    • Free Theatre Christmas Show
    • The Ride Across Lake Constance
    • Electra
    • In Three Minds
    • The Rapist Over Suzannah
    • 1984: The Future Is Now
    • Make-up Ground down / Texts for Decomposition
    • Leonce and Lena
    • Court Case: Free Theatre vs The Arts Centre
    • The Almost Free Theatre Kabernette
    • The Joffongract
    • King Lear
    • Kabarett
    • King Ubu
    • Black Cat Cabaret
    • The Gas Heart/Ox on the Roof/The Mirror Wardrobe One Fine Evening
    • Jazz Cellar Dada / Heavy Metal Cabaret
    • Round Dance
    • Woyzeck
  • Te Puna Toi
    • Past Te Puna Toi Projects
    • Artists in Residence
  • SUPPORT
  • CONTACT
  • CNZ application