On the third Wednesday of each month, a "drama group" of about ten participants meets in the Tyson-Pimmit Regional Library of Fairfax County, from 7:00 to 8:45 pm, to read "mit verteilten Rollen" German dramatic literature in the original language. Conducted by Irmgard Wagner, the readings offer an opportunity for in-depth encounter with great German dramas and for German language practice. A social hour in a local restaurant after the reading continues language practice on the free-style level.
Max Frisch (1911-1991) was Friedrich Dürrenmatt’s Swiss compatriot and colleague as author and novelist. His comedy Biedermann und die Brandstifter (1958), is frequently performed on the German and Swiss stage. Frisch was a successful architect before his career change in 1954 to professional writer. He travelled widely from the US and Mexico to the Middle East, the Soviet Union, Japan, and the European continent, including the countries behind the Iron Curtain. Biedermann, his first highly successful play, carries the subtitle "Ein Lehrstück ohne Lehre." It’s about the bourgeois attitude of denial: "It can’t happen here." The theme is terrorism and the various types and motivations of terrorists. Confronted with this threat, how does the good citizen Biedermann react? Frisch writes a satire of the bourgeois life-style and morality. Satire exaggerates, of course, which makes for hilarious to absurd scenes and dialogues, juxtaposed to graphic depiction and performance of the good life embraced by the model upper-middle-class couple, Mr. and Mrs Biedermann. Husband and wife, however, do not see things in the same way, but eventually act in the same way. A surrealistic "Epilogue in Hell" has all the answers but no solution to the problems posed by the play. We will read Biedermann und die Brandstifter (The Firebugs) in September, October, and early December. Please refer to the Events Calendar for the dates.
| Dramas discussed to date: |
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• G.E. Lessing's 1779 "drama of tolerance" in the era of crusades, Nathan der Weise.
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