FREE THEATRE CHRISTCHURCH
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Hamletmachine

If you go to the theatre to sit in the dark, hold hands 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.
Lex Matheson, The Press
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.

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.


Articles

"Inspiring the space"
The Press, 18 September 1991


Reviews

Muller's 'HamletMachine'
Reviewed by Lex Matheson for The Press, 4 October 1991
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  • HOME
  • ABOUT
    • A brief history...
    • Jarry, Ubu, Pataphysics and Free Theatres
    • Manifestos and Writings
    • Who We Are
    • Shirley Horrocks documentary
    • Training and Devising
    • Home, Space and Design
    • Praise and Awards
  • Te Puna Toi
    • Past Te Puna Toi Projects
    • Artists in Residence
  • UPCOMING
    • The Tempest
    • Woyzeck
  • EDUCATION
    • Kidsfest and Holiday Programmes
    • Schools Workshops
    • Adult workshops
  • ARCHIVE
    • Productions 1979 - present >
      • The Axe
      • Endgame
      • Digitising Performance
      • Erewhon: Over the Range
      • A Summer Night's Dream
      • How Dare You
      • A Winter's Tale
      • 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
      • Ars Acustica
      • Alice
      • The Black Rider
      • Frankenstein
      • The Mauricio Kagel Project
      • Te Puna Toi 2015: Footprints/Tapuwae
      • Kafka's Amerika
      • The Soldier's Tale
      • Canterbury Tales
      • I Sing the Body Electric
      • Hereafter
      • Passion, Pulse and Power
      • The Earthquake in Chile
      • Doctor Faustus
      • The Marvellous Corricks >
        • Corricks - Credits
      • Distraction Camp
      • Remake
      • Ella and Susn
      • Free Theatre - 25 years and counting...
      • Faust Chroma
      • Enigma Emmy Goering/Nico Sphinx of Ice
      • 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
      • Kabarett Kabul
      • Footprints/Tapuwae
      • Last Days of Mankind
      • Medea
      • Bakkhai / Diotek
      • Krapp's Last Tape
      • Murderer Hope of Women / The Philosopher's Stone
      • Comrade Savage
      • Love on a Bicycle
      • Resolution Island
      • Songs for the Judges
      • Crusoe
      • Oedipus Rex/Oedipus at Colonus
      • States of Shock
      • Empire Builders
      • Yes
      • Power
      • Robinson Crusoe: Or I THat Was Born To Be My Own Destroyer
      • Newsbites
      • Dumped in Space
      • MedeaMaterial
      • Salome
      • Electra
      • Sphinx and Strawmen
      • The Girl Who Sings Waterfalls
      • Hamletmachine
      • Oresteia
      • A Respectable Wedding
      • Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant
      • Double Act and Postponeless
      • Cloudkiwiland
      • Preversions
      • G.O.P. Helpomatic
      • The Mortal Pleasure of Wander Lust
      • Red Cross & Takeaway
      • Lulu Earth Spirit
      • The Meeting
      • Action / Tongues
      • Cowboy Mouth
      • The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny
      • A Letter from L
      • Dinosaurs and All the Rubbish / The Hunting of the Snark
      • The Ride Across Lake Constance
      • Electra
      • In Three Minds
      • The Rapist Over Suzannah
      • 1984: The Future Is Now
      • Leonce and Lena
      • Kabernette
      • The Joffongract
      • My Foot, My Tutor
      • King Lear
      • King Ubu
      • Jazz Cellar Dada / Heavy Metal Cabaret
      • Kabarett
      • Black Cat Cabaret
      • The Gas Heart/Ox on the Roof/The Mirror Wardrobe One Fine Evening
      • Round Dance
      • Woyzeck
      • Make-up Ground down / Texts for Decomposition
      • Court Case: Arts Centre vs Free Theatre
    • Image Gallery 1979 - present
    • TV3 Clips
    • Selected Reviews
  • SUPPORT
  • BLOG