''Stallerhof'' is a 1971 play in three acts by
Franz Xaver Kroetz
Franz Xaver Kroetz (; born 25 February 1946) is a German author, playwright, actor and film director. He achieved great success beginning in the early 1970s. ''Persistent'', '' Farmyard'', and ''Request Concert'', all written in 1971, are some o ...
. Along with its sequel ''
Geisterbahn'' (1975), it is regarded as one of Kroetz's most important works in the period.
The play focuses on "the parent-child relationship between a farming couple and their myopic, retarded daughter Beppi, as well as on the relationship between the young girl and her lover, the old loner Sepp".
The playwright Kroetz is known for his plays featuring severely mentally or emotionally impaired characters, often set in his native
Bavaria
Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...
.
Content
Act 1
The mentally retarded, shortsighted Beppi is regarded as a social disgrace by her parents, the farmer Staller and his wife. The permanent pressure to which Beppi is exposed takes its toll. When she is unable to read a letter without making mistakes, she is slapped. But when she is left to herself, she can read it perfectly.
The only one who treats her well is Sepp, an almost 60-year-old labourer. He tells her a touching story about
North American Indians
The Indigenous peoples of the Americas are the inhabitants of the Americas before the arrival of the European colonization of the Americas, European settlers in the 15th century, and the ethnic groups who now identify themselves with those peopl ...
in which a woman outcast by her tribe is rescued by a white man. The labourer, downtrodden by Beppi's parents, longs for freedom and independence, but is unable to fulfill his social and sexual desires. He can only act as master towards his dog.
Act 2
Beppi and Sepp take a ride on a
ghost train
In ghostlore, a ghost train is a phantom vehicle in the form of a locomotive or train. The ghost train differs from other traditional forms of haunting in that rather than being a static location where ghosts are claimed to be present, "the appa ...
in an amusement park. Sepp initially comforts the frightened Beppi, but then seduces her. Afterwards he takes her to a restaurant, increasingly developing his new role as her master and protector.
When Beppi's parents discover the affair, Staller loses his temper, confronts Sepp, and poisons the dog in revenge. Sepp has to leave the farm and gives Beppi a bar of chocolate as a leaving present.
Act 3
Staller and his wife argue about what to do with their pregnant daughter, even contemplating murder. They want her to have an abortion, but don't force it on her out of pity. Like it or not, Beppi must now be taken more seriously than in the past. The play ends with the onset of her labour pains.
Sex and violence
''Stallerhoff'' and ''Geisterbahn'', both first published in 1971,
(although ''Geistbahn'' was not performed until 1975) are plays which are known for their sex and violence, with "graphic scenes of rape, defecation, masturbation, nudity, and an infanticide".
In another play, two of the protagonists take turns to shoot and wound each other. The "only action" in the third scene of this play is said to be the sight of the ageing farmhand masturbating whilst sitting on a toilet.
Reception
The premiere of the stage play was in Hamburg's
Deutsches Schauspielhaus
The Deutsches Schauspielhaus is a theatre in the St. Georg quarter of the city of Hamburg, Germany. It was established in 1901 by the renowned stage actress Franziska Ellmenreich.
Theatre managers
Notable actors
Marco Albrecht,
Ingrid ...
on 24 June 1972, directed by , who was known for social criticism.
It made the 18-year-old actress
Eva Mattes
__notoc__
Eva Mattes (; born 14 December 1954) is an Austrian-German actress. She has appeared in four films directed by director Rainer Werner Fassbinder (''The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant'', ', ''Effi Briest'' and ''In a Year of 13 Moons' ...
, who was seen nude for half a scene, famous. wrote on June 26 in the ''
Süddeutsche Zeitung
The ''Süddeutsche Zeitung'' (; ), published in Munich, Bavaria, is one of the largest daily newspapers in Germany. The tone of SZ is mainly described as centre-left, liberal, social-liberal, progressive-liberal, and social-democrat.
History ...
'' that the Beppi played by Mattes gained an aura that Kroetz had probably not even planned. Mattes received the Hamburg Island Award for Best Actress of the Year for her performance in 1972. The film scholar has stated that no later production reached the intensity of the first one.
Mel Gussow
Melvyn Hayes "Mel" Gussow (; December 19, 1933 – April 29, 2005) was an American theater critic, movie critic, and author who wrote for ''The New York Times'' for 35 years.
Biography
Gussow was born in New York City and grew up in Rockville ...
, who attended a 1981 performance at the
Theater for the New City
Theater for the New City, founded in 1971 and known familiarly as "TNC", is one of New York City's leading off-off-Broadway theaters, known for radical political plays and community commitment. Productions at TNC have won 43 Obie Awards and the P ...
, dubbed the play "compulsively fascinating". He noted "the author's unconventional artistry and his radical line of vision.
..though his observations seem dispassionate, his play is suffused with primitive emotions, and there is even a kind of beauty." He said that both ''Request Concert'' and ''Farmyard'' "are not plays that one is likely to forget." ''Farmyard'' was described as "haunting" in a 2006 issue of ''Theatre Record''.
''Stallerhof'' was translated into Hebrew and in 1986 performed at the
Habima National Theatre in Israel.
After attending a 2006 performance at the
Southwark Playhouse
Southwark Playhouse is a theatre in London, located between Borough and Elephant and Castle tube stations.
History
The Southwark Playhouse Theatre Company was founded in 1993 by Juliet Alderdice and Tom Wilson. They identified the need for a h ...
, Philip Fisher argued that the work "can hardly be described as cheerful but it is moving and puts on stage a stratum of society rarely thrown into the limelight."
In 2014 the play enjoyed a tour across
Cyprus
Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...
by the ONE/OFF group, performed in Greek.
Sequel
In 1975, ''Stallerhof'' was followed by the sequel ''Geisterbahn'', which ends with Sepp and Beppi's child being killed.
Opera
In 1988 the Austrian composer
Gerd Kühr
Gerd Kühr, also Gerd Kuhr (born 28 December 1952 in Lesachtal, Maria Luggau), is an Austrian conductor, composer of classical music and academic teacher. He is known for operas, such as ''Stallerhof'' on a libretto by the author of Stallerhof, th ...
wrote an opera of the same title, on a libretto by Kroetz, closely modeled on the original. It was premiered at the first
Munich Biennale
The Munich Biennale (german: Münchener Biennale) is a contemporary opera and music theatre festival in the city of Munich. The full German name is ''Internationales Festival für neues Musiktheater'', literally: International Festival for New Musi ...
. A review notes: "Kroetz's Stallerhof is a work about inability to communicate, which opens space for music. ... There is expressionist music, which brings to mind. the inarticulacy and exploitation suffered by
Wozzeck
''Wozzeck'' () is the first opera by the Austrian composer Alban Berg. It was composed between 1914 and 1922 and first performed in 1925. The opera is based on the drama ''Woyzeck'', which the German playwright Georg Büchner left incomplete at h ...
. In 2006 it was revived at the
Southwark Playhouse
Southwark Playhouse is a theatre in London, located between Borough and Elephant and Castle tube stations.
History
The Southwark Playhouse Theatre Company was founded in 1993 by Juliet Alderdice and Tom Wilson. They identified the need for a h ...
in London.
References
External links
Neuer Realismus / Beispiel: Franz Xaver Kroetz, Stallerhofat pohlw.de
{{Authority control
1971 plays
German plays
Masturbation