Der heilige Johanna der Schlächthöfe and me.
I have a shocking announcement.
I do not like Blutwurst.
Nor Leberwurst.
Not particularly shocking actually, but current news. this last week has been insanely crazy. It finally ends tomorrow when I have to go to school on (SHOCK!!!) A saturday.
Saturday I went to Endingen to see Zoe's Turnabend. Apparently it is a really swiss-village pastime. Once a year all the amatuer gymnastics clubs get together on stage and preform little acts to music with some nice banter and jokes in between. I thought it was very cool. Or Mega Geil as I told Zoe.
Sunday I was once again in Baden, as I always seem to be, but this time not waiting on a bus, instead I went to the Theater. In German class we are reading Bertolt Brecht, lots of it. We read Der gute Mensch von Sezuan and I am in the middle of a group project on Herr Puntilla und sein Knecht Matti. We did not see either of these in the theater, but Der heilige Johanna der Schlachthöfe was being put on. It is amazing, as are all of Brechts plays, or at least I think so. the funny thing is that for being a communist, it seems to me that he proves in his plays that not only doesn't capitalism work, communism doesn't either (this is especially true of Der gute Mensch von Sezuan). I highly recommend all of his work, really. And I bet Der gute Mensch is easy to find in english. I especially love the epilogue and the separation of the actors from the parts. "gut zu sein und doch zu leben" is impossible in both systems, and i love the video we watched of it.
I have yet to say anything about Der heilige Johanna der Schlachthöfe. In short, it is set in Chicago in the 30s or so, and the meat packing plants are closing. Johanna works for the Salvation Army, and winds up getting mixed up in the whole mess while she is trying to help the newly poor caused by the plant closings. She can't really keep her mouth shut, and is thrown out of the salvation army. She then goes to teh plants, to wait out in the cold with the poor. There is an uprising, and she is given a letter to deliver, but she realizes that this letter will only further the violence, and doesn't hand it over becasue she wants to find a peaceful solution. She becomes sick, and before she dies she realizes that this letter was her one chance to change something for the working class. In the end all the characters are together and they randomly burst into a random song ( not in the musical sense, just in the Brecht play sense), and she collapses and dies. The meat industry has turned into a monopoly, and there is no chance for the workers to band together. I personally loved it.
Then on Monday the Rotary had a Metgezte, which is the lovely party that happened in the past when someone killed an animal. They make Bloodsausage and Liverwurst, which need to be eaten right away, otherwise they spoil. Bloodsausage is, i find, inedible. Liverwurst I ate, but did not enjoy. Rather Kalbsbratwurst.
In theater, we are doing Endgame by Beckket. I get to play Hamm 2. We are currently working on a variation where there are 5 Hamms and 5 Clovs and they all are paired up, but it is all mixed (ie Clov 5 answers Hamm 3). It is really cool, and a million times easier to work with than Waiting for Godot- it is just more relatable, especially since the characters are overly concious that they have done the same thing for the nth time, whereas in Waiting for Godot, they are never certain. I relate much better with Hamm than I do with Clov, whom I don't really understand. I do find it is a much better play in german though, I have read both.
I really hope to post some pictures soon, I keep meaning to, but I am lazy. But my only advice is for everyone to go read some serious Bertolt Brecht. My classmates asked if we had ever read German Lit in school, they were surprised when i said no, but then agian, they havn't read any classic american lit either, so I don't know why they should be. But really, Brecht is amazingly cool. I appologize for a very Literatur centric entry.
I do not like Blutwurst.
Nor Leberwurst.
Not particularly shocking actually, but current news. this last week has been insanely crazy. It finally ends tomorrow when I have to go to school on (SHOCK!!!) A saturday.
Saturday I went to Endingen to see Zoe's Turnabend. Apparently it is a really swiss-village pastime. Once a year all the amatuer gymnastics clubs get together on stage and preform little acts to music with some nice banter and jokes in between. I thought it was very cool. Or Mega Geil as I told Zoe.
Sunday I was once again in Baden, as I always seem to be, but this time not waiting on a bus, instead I went to the Theater. In German class we are reading Bertolt Brecht, lots of it. We read Der gute Mensch von Sezuan and I am in the middle of a group project on Herr Puntilla und sein Knecht Matti. We did not see either of these in the theater, but Der heilige Johanna der Schlachthöfe was being put on. It is amazing, as are all of Brechts plays, or at least I think so. the funny thing is that for being a communist, it seems to me that he proves in his plays that not only doesn't capitalism work, communism doesn't either (this is especially true of Der gute Mensch von Sezuan). I highly recommend all of his work, really. And I bet Der gute Mensch is easy to find in english. I especially love the epilogue and the separation of the actors from the parts. "gut zu sein und doch zu leben" is impossible in both systems, and i love the video we watched of it.
I have yet to say anything about Der heilige Johanna der Schlachthöfe. In short, it is set in Chicago in the 30s or so, and the meat packing plants are closing. Johanna works for the Salvation Army, and winds up getting mixed up in the whole mess while she is trying to help the newly poor caused by the plant closings. She can't really keep her mouth shut, and is thrown out of the salvation army. She then goes to teh plants, to wait out in the cold with the poor. There is an uprising, and she is given a letter to deliver, but she realizes that this letter will only further the violence, and doesn't hand it over becasue she wants to find a peaceful solution. She becomes sick, and before she dies she realizes that this letter was her one chance to change something for the working class. In the end all the characters are together and they randomly burst into a random song ( not in the musical sense, just in the Brecht play sense), and she collapses and dies. The meat industry has turned into a monopoly, and there is no chance for the workers to band together. I personally loved it.
Then on Monday the Rotary had a Metgezte, which is the lovely party that happened in the past when someone killed an animal. They make Bloodsausage and Liverwurst, which need to be eaten right away, otherwise they spoil. Bloodsausage is, i find, inedible. Liverwurst I ate, but did not enjoy. Rather Kalbsbratwurst.
In theater, we are doing Endgame by Beckket. I get to play Hamm 2. We are currently working on a variation where there are 5 Hamms and 5 Clovs and they all are paired up, but it is all mixed (ie Clov 5 answers Hamm 3). It is really cool, and a million times easier to work with than Waiting for Godot- it is just more relatable, especially since the characters are overly concious that they have done the same thing for the nth time, whereas in Waiting for Godot, they are never certain. I relate much better with Hamm than I do with Clov, whom I don't really understand. I do find it is a much better play in german though, I have read both.
I really hope to post some pictures soon, I keep meaning to, but I am lazy. But my only advice is for everyone to go read some serious Bertolt Brecht. My classmates asked if we had ever read German Lit in school, they were surprised when i said no, but then agian, they havn't read any classic american lit either, so I don't know why they should be. But really, Brecht is amazingly cool. I appologize for a very Literatur centric entry.
posted by Zippy the Little Electric Airplane at
2:45 PM
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