Marius von Mayenburg: My plays are my diary out in the world

Marius von Mayenburg: I have to think about ways, try things and throw them away.
iunie 13, 2018 Judy Florescu
German playwright and theater director Marius von Mayenburg was invited to speak about his plays within an open meeting that took place at the National Theater in Bucharest. New Europe College and the Goethe Institute organized the event which started with a speech held by Valentina Sandu, professor at the National University of Music and rector at New Europe College. The open dialogue was hosted by theater director, Theodor-Cristian Popescu.
Here is what Marius von Mayenburg said about writing, topics and the necessary ingredients of a theater play:
For me there are several theater laws that exist. One of the laws is that if I put a character on stage and say this is my main character, this character should have a problem. If someone is on stage and doesn’t have a problem, you immediately lose interest. It’s not necessary the main character to have the most text, but to have the biggest problem. I am looking for a character with a problem that I somehow believe it is relevant and then I follow this through.
The second law in theater for me is that your main character should be different in the end from the beginning, so there should be a change. If there is no change, you know you haven’t finish the play.
For me these laws exist and I believe in them. If my plays feel to you like they have a structure, for me it’s just the the structure of narration that it might lead to this. I go with the characters. Sometimes I know what is happening from the beginning to the end, sometimes I don’t want to know that. I have an interest in form as well. Many times I write what I have not done before and I try out new things that I believe could be interesting.
Each new play is a problem for me as a writer because I don’t know how to write it. When I wrote my first play, I thought that maybe in two or three years I will have a method in how to write plays and I will find out what is best for me. Now I know that with each new play I am a beginner and that I may have new tools, but with each new play it’ s a journey that I don’t know where it ends.
I am bit more generous with myself today, because I got angry on myself a few years ago, when I realized that I did not know how to write a play. I had a lot of thoughts - maybe I am not a good writer, maybe I am not a writer at all, maybe I should do something different. By now, I know that this is part of the way that I work. I have to wait, I have to suffer, I have to think about ways, I have to try things and throw them away. I am more generous with the process, but I don’ t think that I am more clever than I was at the start.
We are really craving these stories that somehow relieved us from the guilt.
Violence doesn’t need a reason, it’s there.
If you observe with a close distance, you will also find things in people that you love, that you try to take care of, to keep. I am not so sure that is the right topic for a theater play.
There is a also a lot of aggression in my plays, because I think theater should be a fight. I think theater needs conflict. I really like nasty rude characters on stage, because they finally do the things that I cannot do in my life. They have all this freedom. Richard the Third says that I am going to entertain you tonight and do all the terrible things that you cannot do and you will have a great time with me. And that is great an invitation!
Verbs describe us #artgoeson

[@akashmohimen]

I have been trying to get in toich with Mr Mayenburg. Would you have any leads? To him or his agent.??