German composer and director Heiner Goebbels is something of a
mad scientist of theater.
His new production, which comes to the Freud Playhouse tomorrow,
is a dreamy, visionary piece that incorporates the writings of
Gertrude Stein, Japanese folk music and Beach Boys’
“Pet Sounds.”
When asked about the tone of “Hashirigaki,” he has a
simple response.
“It’s orange,” he said over the phone from
Germany.
And there’s some truth in that, since it’s quite a
colorful production. Goebbels, who has previously incorporated the
work of Joseph Conrad, Prince and Kierkegaard into his work, is
more than a traditional director, he’s an alchemist.
“It’s a bit difficult to describe because this piece
is made from so many different sources and colors, but I think
overall it has a very dreamy, melancholy mood, in one sense, but a
very reflecting one in another sense,” he said.
“Hashirigaki” has been making its rounds in Europe
to wide acclaim, and it’s been getting the attention of
theater lovers mainly for its unconventional nature. But Goebbels
isn’t a newcomer to the scene. His work with writer and
director Heiner Muller started him in the direction of
reinterpreting and reinventing the role of music and words in a
stage production.
“The way I do pieces, it’s not so much like normal
storytelling, rather it’s finding an interesting point of
view that I would like to share with an audience. It’s more
like a poem, with colors, with smell, with music and language,
everything.”
“Hashirigaki” centers on three characters played by
Charlotte Engelkes of Sweden, Marie Goyette of Canada and Yumiko
Tanaka of Japan. The three of them interact through acting, singing
and playing various instruments. One of the main inspirations,
Japanese folk music, also makes its presence felt throughout the
production.
“I found out that things like the use of the percussion in
Japanese music are not so far from what methods Brian Wilson used
when he provided a lot of space around the individual percussion
sounds,” Goebbels said. “I think that’s similar
to a lot of the space in Japanese music, and that’s a quality
that I wanted to develop in different media, not only the music but
in the use of the stage and the language.”
Goebbels has been listening to the Beach Boys since his pre-teen
days, and he explains how he used to try and recreate their songs
on piano. While he had no trouble with other traditional pop tunes,
he had a harder time with the ’60s icons.
“With these tunes I had a hard time trying to catch them
because of their harmonic structure and the use of their
basslines,” he said. “These songs had a very seducing,
melancholy quality, but they are hard to nail down. I
couldn’t do it when I was 15. But I still kept the songs in
my mind.”
While it might be easy to see Goebbels as a gimmicky
appropriator, he speaks with the utmost respect toward the elements
he utilizes.
“You have to be very sensitive to the material
itself,” he said. “You shouldn’t have too many
ideas, you shouldn’t be violent to the things you use. You
should let them speak. I also usually don’t see a piece
completely before I do it.”
Clearly it’s an organic process, and with such an
ambitious undertaking, it’s not always easy to see where the
production goes. But that must be a part of its charm.
“That’s why maybe I said orange in the
beginning,” he said. “(Because as a director) you might
know, “˜this bassline really goes with this color in the
background, and this costume. And maybe with this little story
about butterflies and beaches from Gertrude
Stein.'”
“Hashirigaki” comes to the Freud Playhouse Oct.
10-13. Tickets are $40, and $15 for UCLA students.