The dominance of non-literary elements is enormous here – Letters to the Editor

To: “The Lonely Man Drama”, contribution by Bettina Schulte (Culture, April 19)

We can only agree on conditions with Bettina Schulte’s review of Goethe’s “Faust I” at the Freiburg Theater. We were thrilled to explore this primal realm of human existence once again in the character of Faust. Unfortunately, our expectations were greatly disappointed.

Even if director Krzysztof Garbaczewski, as he explained in the interview with the program, has been interested in “integrating technology into the theater” and has also worked with virtual reality (VR) for years, we would expect an appropriate dignity for the play’s theme and importance. This is not the case. Goethe’s text hides behind the huge screen of digital pixel rules and cyber similes that are difficult to understand for the actors.

The continuous musical loop does another job for production elements that don’t serve the word. Virtual reality may influence ‘modern myths’, but this is not the subject of Faust and an attempt to fit it has failed. The dominance of non-literary elements is enormous. Literally stifling Goethe’s text. Gretchen does not become the main character the director sees her as, and in the end she is nothing but an independent and liberated woman.

The director would like to see and perform it this way, but then Gretchen’s character must be different as a person. Gretchen appears as a thin braided asexual being, and the included non-Gothie passage on sexual diversity cannot satisfy this desire. The new ending doesn’t work that way. The director can certainly give that, but then he will have to delve into more Goethe and Faust. Frauk Brice Ohloff,Alphonse Lenherr, Melheim