Typsich!

On Sunday, I felt very German. Since I am taking a theater class, that is taught in German, we have some mandatory plays that we have to see throughout the semester. Of course, the class would not be complete without the arguably most well-known piece of German drama, Goethe's Faust.

Yesterday, we had the opportunity to go to the Deutsches Theater and see a production of the first part of the work. Not only did it seem very German to be going to the theater on a Sunday evening, but we were also seeing a quintessential piece of German literature being preformed, that all Germans have to read in school.

The play was also portrayed, in my opinion, in a very German way. First, it was a very modern production - hardly any set, props, or noteworthy costumes. They also took a lot of interpretation into their own hands; from having Faust rock out at a disco to Mephistopheles making lots of lewd gestures and sounds to blood-covered Gretchen committing suicide at the end. These were of course supposed to be symbolic of various things that happen in the text, but were still very strange compared to the original. Finally, there was just a lot of yelling between the characters, with everyone seeming angry at each other all the time, which wasn't what I got from the reading of the text.

All in all, it was a rather bizarre two hours. Nevertheless, it was good to get out to the theater and to say that I have seen Faust in a German playhouse, of which the productions these days are probably all that strange. It was also interesting to see the crowd, which was mainly young people; perhaps German students also studying the play. I also think these type of plays are something I might have to get used to, if I am going to have to go to them all semester.