The last night in Munich was spent at the theater (just me--Alan's German isn't quite up to it) and it was another amazing experience. Most of you have heard me comment on the German's peculiarities in adopting everything classical (thank God, not the Rosenkavalier) to a modern mise-a-scene. This time it was an 1895 Hauptman play 'Before the dawn'--about very rich German capitalist's family's exploitation of the Silesian coal workers. Well, would you believe it, they changed it to a German family in Bali, quite conscientiously and beautifully, and the exploitation of the seamstresses (Nike, outsourcing, etc). and it really worked! The alcoholic, incestuous clan was contrasted with a dear, articulate and ineffective radical, a friendship left over from student days. Sad, that the comment was so prescient and so useless, at least in practical terms--I
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