German Dramatists Come to Boston for 'The Whole World'

"If you're talking about marriage, it's comment enough," say German playwrights Theresia Walser and Karl-Heinz Ott. "You are talking about having children or having not children, about sex and liberty, lies and secrets."

In their new comedy "The Whole World," the dramatists talk about marriage and a whole lot more. The latest incarnation of their script was read to a packed house with the playwrights in tow Thursday, April 23 at the Goethe-Institut Boston.

At the center of the story is "a middle-aged couple, who feel bothered by a party-invitation from a younger couple in their neighbourhood." When the couples come together there is inevitably a big clash, which leaves the older couple confused. But this is "as the world goes," say the playwrights. Who happen to be a middle-aged couple themselves, but they insist this play is not autobiographical. "Everybody is surrounded by couples, so there is no need to talk only about your own history."

Walser and Ott first met the artistic director of the German Stage, Guy Ben-Aharon three years ago in Boston, "when he directed Theresia's 'A Little Calm Before the Storm,' says Ott. "And from the beginning we fell in love with him. His brightness, his sharp mind, his humour, his wit, his playful ideas -- all this is overwhelming."

"How he talked about the play was so unusual," Ott continues, "It was like meeting someone you knew for a long time. In the same way, it was like finding somebody you always missed."

Ben-Aharon's production of "Ulysses on Bottles" generates lively discussions in the post-show talk backs after each performance (produced by Israeli Stage and ArtEmerson, it plays at the Paramount Theatre until April 26). It is this kind of vibrant communication that the director always attempts to generate with his work. He realises this with his work in two sister organizations, Israeli and German Stage. These companies use some of Boston's finest acting talent to share international dramatic works with local audiences.

"One of Guy's talents, among many, is to bring the best actors of Boston to work with German stage," say Walser and Ott . "Like for example Karen McDonald, Bobbie Steinbach, Marianna Bassham, Johnny Lee Davenport, Jeremiah Kissel and so on. It's an honour to meet them again and to watch them on the stage."

This reading of "The Whole World" will feature Elliot Norton and IRNE Award winning actress Marianna Bassham, as well as Robert Kropf, Deb Martin and Thomas Kee.

Ben-Aharon points out the fact that half the world's theatres are in Germany, Switzerland and Austria, so theatre as an institution is vitally important to German audiences.

"What you call Germany today was for hundreds of years a conglomeration of many, many litte duchies and princedoms," say Walser and Ott . "Every one of them wanted to have its own theatre and its own opera house. That's the reason why every town has its own theatre today."

Today German theatre is extreamly "director driven" note the playwrites. "At this moment in German theatre the director is the most powerful figure."

"For thirty years German theatre has developed in many directions," says the couple. "Some companies want to have no more characters; that means that authors are no longer writing dialogue but "Textfl�chen," in other words a kind of endless prose, which the director can use for his own fantasies. Others are juxtaposing dance, music, drama and so on."

This is not the way that Walser and Ott work. They enjoy plays with interesting characters, strong acting, tremendous production design, plot, theme, politics and humor. "We would like to see all these things together, like it's in the good plays of Shakespeare."

One of Walser's maxims is "when a character is going straight, make a left turn."

"That means to keep the relationships between author and character alive," she clearifies. For example, "in the second act of 'The Whole World,' the two couples are talking about children. The younger couple has two kids. Suddenly Regina (of the older couple) who has no children, says: 'Our children are just dead!'" We don't know whether she's telling the truth or lying, but "from this moment on nothing is like it was."

It's this kind of volitility that pulses through the collaborative work of Walser and Ott, and with which Ben-Aharon feeds.

"Especially for the play 'The Whole World,' which we wrote together," say the playwrights. "We sat opposite each other, throwing the sentences to one another. You may think that Theresia was writing the female parts and Karl-Heinz the male ones, but we did it all together, and in our best moments we felt like two improvising pianists."

"The Whole World" takes place Thursday, April 23 at 7 PM at the Goethe-Institut Boston (170 Beacon Street, Back Bay/Boston). For more information and tickets visit www.goethe.de/ins/us/bos/ or call 617-262-6050 x11.

"Ulysses on Bottles" runs through April 26 at the ArtEmerson Paramount Center (559 Washington Street, Boston). For more information visit artsemerson.org