"Failure in the foreign interest me" – Culture News: Books



[ad_1]

She speaks Georgian with her daughter as well as with her mother. But his works are written by the Hamburg native, Nino Haratischwili, in German. And since that she has discovered theater at the German Tbilisi School and has written plays for the whole school. Before that, she lived with her mother in Germany from 1995 to 1997 – when things came and went in her home country. At the age of 14, Nino Haratischwili came back. In Tbilisi, she studied filmmaking and in 2003, the year of the Georgian Rose Revolution, she moved to the Hamburg Theater Academy, where she lives today. The homeland and foreigners, the stages of emancipation and the hopes of despair – these are themes that the director, the playwright and the prose writer can not forget.

In 2018, Haratischwili receives the Bertolt Brecht Prize from the city of Augsburg for his plays and the more than 1000-page novel "Das Acht Leben (Für Brilka)". At the end of the season, the wild charismatic monologue "The Barbarians" of the peacock was on display, in which an aspirant who had immigrated from the Slavic region was upset by the new refugees. For the next season, another Swiss premiere is planned. The fourth novel of 750 pages by Nino Haratischwilis, "The cat and the general", on the collapse of the Soviet empire, the wars that ensue and the desire for redemption will be published at the end of August [19659002] You are in Georgia: How do you react? Russian charm offensive via WM?
The majority of Georgians react to most of what is happening in Russian politics, negative to negative. This includes the World Cup. The relationship with Russia is and remains difficult, although Georgia is flooded by Russian tourists. It seems like the saying goes: "Mikheil Saakashvili, the sworn enemy, is gone, we can go on vacation." Of course, Georgia has never ceased to be the sunny country of nostalgia for Russia.

How is it? "Longing Land"?
Tourism is an important economic factor because it does not matter where the tourists come from. But he must define the right accents, a vision for Georgia as a travel destination to develop. It's still missing, in my opinion. An example: If a Dutch trainer crosses the Georgian mountains and meets a farmer who offers his products, he buys 1 to 2 liters of catscha (grappa) and some sweets. But the Russians go out, buy 100 liters of catscha and all the candies. While this may be more lucrative for the farmer, I hope that Georgia creates structures in the tourism industry that would attract as many people from the West as North and from the US. East.

In the 1990s, poverty was high in Georgia
Economically, in my opinion, there is little change, despite all the promises made since independence in 1991. Tourism is flourishing, and especially the major cultural stages have been crossed. The young creative scene is thrilling, you can feel a spirit of optimism. This makes me very happy because my generation was dominated by stagnation. But economically, the majority of the population is bad. Unemployment remains high, and even those who are barely working make ends meet because wages are so miserable – a key problem. And there are always protests, also because of the many accidents, often fatal, on construction sites and in mines. I hope that the pressure will grow and will force officials to better value the lives and the work force.

"The theater should be more focused on the human for my taste."

pity that he turns a blind eye to the past. How is Georgia doing with it today?
One can hardly speak of social work. Unfortunately, Georgia has not really analyzed the recent past. Also in the school is missing the questioning. But there are attempts at attempts by individuals and institutions. Above all, artists take topics from recent history.

They suffered from childhood and civil war as children. Did that impress you?
Yes, like everyone who has lived here. But I was a child, protected by my family. You took a lot of things because you did not know it differently. And of course, you had as much joy and adventure as the children of affluent societies. Childhood protected us from civil war and economic collapse. It was much worse for our parents. I think the idea of ​​having to look after a child at that time is terrible. I suspect that the fact that Georgians live so much today is very much connected to that time. There is never the certainty that tomorrow will be the same as today, and enjoy the moment much more intensely than, for example, in Germany.

Georgia is also one of the "defective democracies" – rightly?
The terms should first be clarified. Simply put, Georgia is still far from a democracy of Central Europe. But the conscience goes in the direction of the civil society, with the younger ones the will is there. Politically, there is a lot to do, and changes in the elderly are also difficult. Their mentality is still very Soviet shaped. The society is extremely divided, you can feel it in everyday life.

What are you living in today?
The older I get, the more I am asked, the less I know it. Language is certainly an important part of it, but not everything. I do not feel less at home in German than in Georgian. What I am convinced, however, is that the house has something to do with the course. You move freely

You write in German
Georgian is and will remain my mother tongue, I also speak with my little girl. I can not imagine that she does not control it. This language should also be part of their identity.

Your work also revolves around identity.
I am a migrant myself and face migration and departure. However, in the play "The Second Woman", which will soon be presented in Zurich, as well as in "The barbarians", I was at least as interested in the failure of foreign affairs. The never really happened. Dreams breaking on the new earth. These torn life plans are incredibly sad. I also think that it is important to evoke characters who normally do not have a voice in society. It is a bit scary that post-migrant theater is not automatically included in the theatrical landscape.

What can and must theater do today in political discourse?
I find it rather boring when the theater goes against the tide and wants to hear news on stage. If this were the role of the theater, there would be no spectators for "The Orestie" or "Hamlet". For me, the theater works in translation – I do it, please, as a spectator … The theater should be more to my taste for people: the characters, the audience of humanity do not only seek an intellectual discourse. The emotional flute often flares in contemporary theater. It is unfortunate that the power of emotions is also underestimated in the political sense.

And the communist idea of ​​fraternity does not convince you?
We read Marxist theses, we are often in agreement. But for me it remains a great utopia. For a socialism in the best sense of the word, the man should be different from what he is. He should not seek power and put his own interests first, not be greedy and seek their own benefits. Thus, the idea of ​​socialism was betrayed a few days after the seizure of power by the Bolsheviks.

In "The barbarians", a former refugee complains of the new refugees.
I had the idea of ​​"The barbarians" in Zug, where a stranger sat in front of me and scolded the refugees. It was an absurd situation, almost funny, because the indignant Germans dared not say anything, since she was herself alien. She repeated that nothing had been given to her. Somehow, I found this thought horrible and sad at the same time. As if she were jealous of refugees, better treated by her country's adoption of their point of view. As if she had never received the desired recognition in Germany, even though she thought she had done everything right. Later, to my astonishment, I discovered that foreigners, in particular, often feel extreme resentment against refugees.

They rely on reality; Why do you separate strictly from private by writing?
Personally, all my words are personal, they all affect me emotionally. But I would never write anything privately – that is, one by one from my own experience, because that would mean subordinating my fantasy to reality. This is not what I am interested in writing. I want to be able to live different lives, imagine what it is like to be a 60 year old man who believes in communism.

Has there been a lot of change in Germany since your arrival in 2003?
Things are constantly changing, it's a good thing. People still believe that they live at the time "the most extreme". The desire of the past is nothing but his own youth, the point of life where everything seemed open. But what time was more beautiful and peaceful than today? I do not believe in everlasting attention to "how everything has become". Of course, nationalist tendencies have increased alarmingly across Europe. You have to face it, seek dialogue, even if you stand in front of someone with whom you never really want to change a word. Hardening of the fronts is not a solution. What is definitely different for me in 2003 is the gap that runs through society. The middle is lost, the opposite sides move away from each other.

(Tages-Anzeiger)

created: 05.07.2018, 19:42

[ad_2]
Source link