Gustaf Gründgens as Self (archive footage)
Episodes 2
Games of the Dictatorships 1933-45
Under the pressure of the totalitarian regimes of Stalinism and Fascism, theater artists in Spain, Russia and Germany increasingly came into conflict between resistance and adaptation. Numerous playwrights and directors went into exile. However, most of them stayed in their homeland and began to come to terms with the Nazis, since they were unable to speak any language other than their mother tongue. From then on, no Jewish or "left" authors were allowed to be played, only classics and apolitical entertainment were still allowed. Gustaf Gründgens, stage star of the century, became general director of the Berlin State Theater despite his connections to "leftist" artists and staged - not only on stage - a clever double play. In the meantime, the system used itself theatrical means and made the state a monumental and cruel "state theater"
Read MoreLooking back - theater between 1945 - 65
Germany is in ruins, but theater was played again in May 1945. People are looking for entertainment and moral edification. Under the impression of the Cold War, the theater tumbles between the worlds: between renewal and restoration, between taking a breath and protesting outcry. Gustaf Gründgen's “Faust” together with his film version becomes a legend. Brecht's work on the Berlin ensemble has shaped the GDR theater for decades. The returning emigrant Fritz Kortner is particularly fascinating and provocative in West German theater. From the mid-1960s, his productions shaped a new generation of directors. In Italy, a former young partisan, Giorgio Strehler, founded the Piccolo Teatro in the former quarter of the fascist secret police. The new human theater in the former torture house aims to combine political awareness with the most artistic and aesthetic ambitions.
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