8. Postscript On the essay “The Cologne Hänneschen Theater” by Tony Kellen

The above essay seems to me to be of the greatest interest to all those who are interested in dramaturgical questions. The essence of dramatic and acting art cannot be recognized without going back to the primitive forms of this art. It is similar to the history of the development of peoples. We recognize the life of the popular soul by tracing it at its lowest stages, at the point where it begins to stir. We must turn our gaze to the beginnings of historical development. This has its difficulties. The historical tradition becomes all the more inadequate the further back in time we go. The sources dry up all the more the closer we get to prehistoric times. But we have preserved tribes of people who are still at primitive stages of development today. They have stood still while other tribes have developed further. We can use them to study the conditions in which the more highly developed peoples of today once found themselves.

It is no different with all things that are subject to development. Drama and the art of acting are at a high level of development today. However, their primitive beginnings have been preserved in certain events. Something of the essence of drama has always been revealed to me when I have seen the performances of wandering jugglers who amuse the people with simple, crude jokes for a few pennies. These jokes contain all the essentials of what we call dramatic tension and resolution. The entanglements that arise in higher drama from complicated human actions, from psychological links, are present in the basic lines when the buffoon with the corresponding persona develops his jokes before us. What excites and ultimately satisfies us in the finest drama is similar to what the jugglers perform in primitive form in the open air.

The subtle ramifications of the dramatic action deceive us as to the simple elements which cause us to follow in excitement the progress of what is happening on the stage. To unfold the dramatic action in such a way that these simple forces underlie and dominate the process is the poet's art.

The characters who appear in dramatic creations can be reduced to a few basic types. In raw, one-sided, grotesque form, these basic types are contained in the performances of the wandering jugglers.

The stupid man, who is cheated by everyone; the clever man, who is superior to everyone; the wanton man, who commits mischief wherever he can, are such basic types.

The people are not interested in the individual characteristics of single persons, but in the entanglements that arise when the cunning, the crafty, the wanton and the stupid are confronted with each other.

The Hänneschen play described in the above essay represents a level of drama that rises only slightly above the primitive state described. The typical characters that appear in this play are further developments of the basic types described. And the entanglements are of a simple kind; they are those that necessarily result from the relationship between these basic types.

The drama is what has to happen because in the world the stupid confront the clever, the honest the mischievous. The finer characteristics are always only the flesh that clings to the skeleton of simple living conditions. The main effect emanates from this skeleton.

There are stages of dramatic art where the plot is not exactly prescribed. The details are left to momentary inspiration. This is characteristic of all drama. It proves that these details are not important at all. They can be one way or another. The main thing is that there are certain simple, typical intricacies, a certain basic trait in the course of events.

We are astonished when we examine dramatic literature to see what is actually effective in the individual plays. We come up with a few basic developments that are varied in different ways in all dramas.

The study of dramatic technique should go back to these basic developments. The structural relationships of the dramatic actions should be examined. Through their knowledge one arrives at a kind of natural history of drama. We are not yet accustomed to looking at events in drama merely in terms of how these structural relationships are. We are too attached to the material, to what is going on. But the effect depends on how it happens. The effect of a drama does not depend on whether there is seduction, trickery and so on, but on how this seduction, this trickery is connected to the other parts of the dramatic action.

We are not interested in a person appearing in the drama. But we are interested in the situation they find themselves in when they enter into a relationship with people of a different kind.

Whether someone is stupid or clever doesn't interest us in life either. Only if we are in a relationship with someone who is stupid or clever do we care about their state of mind. If there is no such relationship, this state of mind only concerns us insofar as it relates to the environment. In this respect, drama is the most faithful reflection of life.

At the higher levels of education, the circumstances of life are so complicated that their simple basic structure does not always emerge clearly. This basic structure can be observed among simple, uneducated classes. An impartial observer can see how little difference there is between the similar conditions among uneducated people. How a peasant boy falls in love with a peasant girl is repeated in the same way in countless cases. The differences that come into consideration in this basic experience are only of minor importance.

From this point of view, it seems to me that dramatic art, which emerges directly from the popular soul, can claim the highest interest.

The playwright as well as the actor can learn from this art.

In Heinrich Laube's case, it was particularly praised that as a director he understood the art of thread drawing. This thread-drawing consists of nothing other than bringing complicated dramatic processes back to a simple basic structure. Only when this is recognized and made effective by the director can the result of a drama express itself in the right way. The audience need not be aware of this basic structure. What makes him curious after the first five minutes, what maintains his interest, what finally fills him with satisfaction or horror, are the currents of the soul within him, which are an exact reflection of that basic structure.

He is the best director who is able to imagine a drama in the simplest lines of force.

The few characters who appear in the Hänneschen play represent the playwright's entire props. We recognize them again and again, even in the most intricate dramas and the most individualized characters, the grandfather, Marie Sibylla, Gertrud, Tony and Hänneschen. But we recognize them best in their originality when we watch how the people develop dramatic art out of their primitive, typical experiences.