Quote of the day - Heiner Müller

What would you regard as a central issue in your recent texts?

How should I know, and if I knew why should I tell you?

If you reject this idea of a central issue, could you mention some of the interests you pursue in your writing?

See above.

This was the part of the interview I was interested in. But what comes later some might find creepily prophetic:

Your plays have been performed in East and West Germany [the interview takes place in 1984], in the United States, and in many other countries. You partipated in many of these production and recently have directed your plays in both Germanies. (...)
a) Where is the theatre, in your opinion, a more efficient instrument of social impact?
b) Where would you prefer to direct, and to watch, your plays on stage?

a) In the East. b) I would like to stage MACBETH on top of the World Trade Center for an audience in helicopters.

Terms like 'Despair,' 'Pessimism,' 'Guilt' are often used by critics writing about your work. DO you think these are adequate definitions of your intentions and/or values?

Three times No.

People familiar with your recent texts often complain about a total lack of hope in your writing. What is your opinion?

I am neither a dope- nor a hope-dealer.

Would you care to comment on your views about the future of our world which you paint so darkly in your work?

The future of the world is not my future. 'Show me a mousehole and I'll fuck the world.' (Railworker at the soft-coal strip mine Klettwitz, GDR.)

All quotes come from an interview that first appeared in H.Müller, Hamlet Machine and Other Texts for the Stage (New York, 1984)

Technorati: theater, theatre, art, contemporary art, vvoi