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12/04/08
Fassbinder Works in Beijing
“Love is Colder Than Death” staged for the first time
The Beijing Goethe-Institute’s twentieth anniversary provided reason for a wide range of programs including exhibitions, panel discussions, film screenings, and theater performances in the local “Art Space 798.”
A highlight during the “Goethe Night” on November 1 in the category film was – once again – Fassbinder’s BERLIN ALEXANDERPLATZ: Remastered. The entire film, screened with Chinese subtitles, was made accessible to a new audience. Before this screening, a retrospective dedicated to the work of Werner Herzog had been opened with LEBENSZEICHEN / SIGNS OF LIFE (1966).
The Goethe-Institute’s mission is that of bilateral supporter for exchange between Germany and China and, even more generally, mediator of Modern Western Culture.
One of the activities from November 5 to 15, 2008 included more Fassbinder in the Fengchao-Theater: An adaptation for the stage of his first feature film, LOVE IS COLDER THAN DEATH (1969). In collaboration with the Chinese State Theater, the well-known avant-garde director Meng Jinghui, took on the material and staged the entire piece behind a so-called “fourth wall.” The large glass pane in front of the stage represents “that invisible screen that forever separates the public from the stage,” as US film critic Vincent Canby once put it. The spectators can only hear the spoken text via headphones. In this context, Meng Jinghui said: “I changed almost nothing in the movie except the glass, the earphones, the sound and the awkward acting that I call for to make the production a theater experiment, challenging the audience’s usual experience.” (China Daily, November 12, 2008)
For an English translation of the theater review “Fassbinder in Peking: Kalte Liebe im Glasguckkastentheater” in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, please refer to this link: http://www.fassbinderfoundation.de/bilder/FAZ-FassbinderInPekingen.pdf
Photos: 2008 © Fengchao Theater
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