75. “the Unknown” (L'intruse)

Drama by Maurice Maeterlinck. German by O.E. Hartleben
Second performance of the Berliner Dramatische Gesellschaft at the Residenz-Theater, Berlin

The characterization of Maeterlinck, which I tried to give in a conference preceding the performance of "The Uninvited", can be found at the beginning of this page. I would like to describe the performance as an outstanding theatrical event. It was the third time that this peculiar little drama had been seen on a German stage. Of the first two performances I know only eyewitness accounts. According to them, I must assume that on January 23 Maeterlinck's creation had the success it deserved for the first time in Germany.

I do not need to give a synopsis of the play because it appeared in Otto Erich Hartleben's excellent translation in No. 2 of this journal. This translation is a masterly one. In French, Maeterlinck's simple, everyday sentences have the effect of announcing great things as if they were self-evident. Simple German phrases had to be found to have the same effect. Hartleben has succeeded in this.

The drama will only be effective from the stage if it succeeds in creating the religious mood that emanates from it. If I can trust my perceptions, this was the case to a high degree last Sunday.

Otto Erich Hartleben has devoted himself to rehearsing the drama with dedicated zeal. At almost every rehearsal I witnessed the effort he made to bring about a worthy performance. I was also able to observe the work of Gustav Rickelt, the director of the Residenz Theater. He responded to the character of the play with a fine understanding and sought to bring it out in the performance.

When I speak of the performance, I must first and foremost remember Hans Pagay. He played the blind grandfather. In my opinion, he portrayed the sighted blind man with the solemnity that is characteristic of this character. In important places he hit the note, which must do more here than the sound of the word. In second place, I would like to mention Josephine Sorger, who already aroused interest in the first performance of the Dramatische Gesellschaft. She played Lux in Felix Dörmann's "Ledigen Leuten" with the kind of perfection that one only finds in actors who are said to have "stage blood". This time she played Ursula, one of the sisters sitting around the table with their blind grandfather. If I had to describe Josephine Sorger's talent in one word, I think the most descriptive would be: sympathetic. There is a lot of soul in her voice. And this soul had an atmospheric effect in her portrayal of Ursula. The father and uncle were played by Gustav Rickelt and Eugen Heiske. They went to great lengths. However, it is not easy to find the tone in which the everyday personalities have to speak in this mood-heavy play.

The sultry mood expressed in the play was worked out as well as was possible with the means available. One would have to approach the matter with the most modern, most perfect 'theater apparatus. The mysterious steps of death creeping closer and closer could then act as an allusion to the deep feelings that man has in the solemn hours of the soul, in which it immerses itself in that which has never become and will never pass away, in which time and space disappear and the weaving in the imperishable gains a blissful existence.