Dramaturgical Resources

2006

The Hour We Knew Nothing of Each Other

By Peter Handke

Over the course of the season, our assistant directors and student dramaturgs will be compiling dramaturgical resources relating to each production as it develops. Below are some links to websites which relate to the history of the play, the biography of the playwright, and sites that contextualize and, we hope, shed light on the directorial approach to the dramatic material.

We hope you find these resources of interest.

Peter Handke

Peter Handke (b. 1942)

Peter Handke

The Peter Handke Site

This is probably the most extentsive of the Peter Handke sites on the web. A lot of it is in German, and the site is rather confusing to navigate. That being said, reviews (in English, as well as German) and pictures of theatrical productions of Handke's works can be found by roaming through the sites many pages.

The site's main portal can be found here.

Peter Handke's own website (alas, only in German) can be found here.

Critical Essays on Handke's Writings

Critical essays on Handke's plays, novels, memoirs and screenplays abound. Some are positive, some are decidedly negative.

"A Son's Long Goodbye"

From the Village Voice

Listing of Peter Handke's Plays

Handke's Early Plays

Especially Offending the Audience and (less so) Self-Accusation were often received by the public as scandalous.

A translator's point of view on these works, here.

Handke's Politics

Handke's political views have often been extremely controversial, no more so than his supposed support of the Serbian cause and Slobodan Mlosevic (or more accurately his anti-NATO stance) during the Yugoslavian crisis.

More on Handke's politics, here.

And more here.

Aristic Works that Defy the Norm With Their Use of Silence are Many

Some of the most famous are:

  • John Cage's "silent" musical composition 4'33". For a recent review, click here.
  • Samuel Beckett's play, Breath, the text of which can be found here.
    • An article about Breath can be found here. And Wikipedia's entry about Breath can be found here.
  • Beckett's Act Without Words I and II are also wordless, "mime" plays. More on them here and, on Wikipedia, here.

Urban Theaory

How we conceive of public spaces -- is a topic of endless discussion.

One website that explores these ideas and theories, with many interesting links, can be found, here.

Postmodernism

Handke's work falls, at times, clearly into the realm of what cultural and literary theorists call Postmodernism. For more on postmodernism, browse here or, more briefly, here.