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HEINER MÜLLER
1988
Heiner Müller is probably the most significant European playwright of the second half of the 20th century. He is certainly the most theatrically challenging playwright of our epoch. Starting as a protege of Bertolt Brecht, Müller evolved into one of the great innovative poets of the century, writing texts for the stage that seem to defy the limitations of theatre.
A story by Stephen King. An American schoolboy, twelve or thirteen years old, fascinated in his small-town boredom by documents on the German concentration camps the way his classmates are by Superman the formula of his fascination: THEY JUST DID THOSE THINGS. At his daily bus stop, he recognises a face he has seen in photographs, under a black cap with skull insignia and above a black SS uniform. They boy blackmails the unidentified murderer to tell HOW DID YOU DO THOSE THINGS. The murderer tells to save his life. Curiosity becomes the urge for real experience: the two of them found Murder Inc. and rid the small town of dogs, tramps, and other "unworthy life" . . . How does a friendly person like Helnwein stand making his excellent painting into a mirror of the terrors of this century? Or is it that he cant stand not doing it? Does his mirror just reflect the attitude of the century? TERROR WITHOUT END IS BETTER THAN AN ENDING IN TERROR. It comes from the over-evaluation of death, a consequence of "statistics" making it taboo. Perseus guillotines the Gorgon in the mirror , and when the head falls, it is his own. How many heads does a person/man have in our age of mirrors?
