Dear Friends and Supporters,
George Tabori was a hugely important figure of European Theatre, and I was privileged to create two British Premieres of his works (MEIN KAMPF - FARCE and WEISMAN AND COPPERFACE – A JEWISH WESTERN), and even more so, to become his friend! He was patron of my little theatre company and inspired me and all of us. Now, some years after he left us , the time has come to return to his marvellous plays and create them anew for today's audiences, especially for the younger generations. We shall have a go at several projects, but to start with we shall tackle a play, both in London and in Paris, that has never yet been performed in English or French ! A play that is passionate, moving and extremly imprortant , even more so in this day and age : MASADA !
We need to raise funds for the first phase , always the most difficult: of commissioning the translations, scouting around for co-producers, and finding the right theatres to host this project. ATTACHED BELOW IS SOME BACKGROUND TO THE PROPOSAL ABOUT TABORI, AND ABOUT MYSELF . I SHOULD BE ETERNALLY GRATEFUL IF YOU WOULD KINDLY CONTRIBUTE TO THE FUNDING OF THIS PROJECT WITH AS GENEROUS A DONATION AS YOU FEEL ABLE TO GIVE. AND PLEASE FEEL FREE TO FORWARD THE LINK TO ANY FRIENDS OF YOURS WHO WOULD BE INTERESTED AND ABLE TO HELP!
A BIG THANK YOU. MICHAEL
MASADA . A REPORT. By George Tabori
British Premiere and French Premiere !!!
Yorick International Theatre / La Compagnie Michael Batz – Yorick
A play by George Tabori . Based on The Jewish War by Flavius Josephus
and texts by Samuel Beckett and Paul Celan
Translated, Directed and Designed by Michael Batz
Cast (To be confirmed) :
LONDON : Josephus - Jack Klaff . The Woman - Josephine Welcome
PARIS: Josephus - Elie Malka . The Woman - Nadine Servan
Music : Max Bruch
Nota Bene
Michael Batz has worked extensively with George Tabori, whom he considers one of his Masters. He was the first to brinplays to the British stage (quite some irony when we know that George wrote all his texts first in English): he staged the British premiere of those masterpieces which are Mein Kampf -Farce and
Weisman and Copperface – a Jewish Western, first at the Edinburgh Festival and later in London
(the postcard from George to Michael, agreeing to be patron of Yorick International Theatre!)
Masada will be the first part of a return to Tabori's work, which must be considered one of the most important of the second part of 20th century theatre. As soon as we have gathered enough co-producers and financial support, this production will be followed by the French creation of Jubilee and by a recreation, both in London and Paris, of Mein Kampf –Farce.
THE AUTHORS: GEORGE TABORI
Hungarian by birth, British by nationality, George Tabori, playwright, director, screenwriter and occasional actor, was born in Budapest, Hungary, on May 24, 1914 into an intellectual Jewish family. In 1933, when he was not yet twenty, he worked in Berlin as a journalist and translator.. and as a jobbing waiter!
On January 30, 1933, he was in Berlin, where he attended, in the middle of the crowd, Hitler's first gesticulations on the balcony of the Chancellery. The eighteen-year-old young man did not understand the significance of the event at the time: “Most people, myself included, did not know what it could really mean.» Much later, he would declare: “Berlin had become too small for both of us,” making the Führer his improbable alter ego, as he would do again through the desperate and comical relationship of the Shlomo and Hitler in Mein Kampf -Farce. “Laughter is the only thing left after the disaster. » (Auto-Da-Fe). But, in 1935, with the rise of Nazism, he was forced into exile.
First, George Tabori established himself in Great Britain. He opted for British nationality in 1941. When the Second World War broke out, he took part in the fighting, under the British flag, against the Nazi enemy. While garrisoned in Jerusalem, he wrote his first novel. After the war, when he also worked for British Intelligence, there followed a long stay in the United States, in Hollywood, where he wrote screenplays for great filmmakers, such as Hitchcock’s I Confess in 1953, and Joseph Losey’s Secret Ceremony, in 1968. Tabori returned in Europe in 1969 where he mainly worked in the theatre.
His plays are often inspired by his personal experience and especially that of his family who endured the deportations and abuses of Hitler's Germany. Thus, in Cannibals, written in 1968, he recounts in a humorous but sarcastic tone the death of his father at Auschwitz. His theater uses all facets of comedy to denounce, demystify and provoke.
Moving to Germany in 1971, he directed and performed his own plays in several cities, Pinkville in Berlin in 1971 (about the My Lai massacre), My Mother’s Courage in Munich in 1979 in which he recounts the deportation of his mother who only just escaped the holocaust. A cosmopolitan and polyglot author whose “only homeland is the theatre” as he himself says, George Tabori also presented adaptations of works by great authors like Shakespeare, Kafka, Brecht, Beckett.
In 1986 he was director of the Schauspielhaus theatre in Vienna, and in 1987 he presented Mein Kampf- Farce, a play which mockingly parodies Hitler. From 1987 to 1990 he directed the Der Kreis theatre in Vienna. His theatrical works, imbued with the mystical, spiritual and social universe of the Jewish spirit, were very successful, but also disturbed a certain elite. In 1990, he created Weisman and Copperface – A Jewish Western, followed by Goldberg Variations in 1991. Author of a rich and complex work, George Tabori died on July 23, 2007, in Berlin at the age of 93. He is buried in the Dorotheenstadt cemetery in Berlin, not far from Bertolt Brecht.
His plays were always written in English! The German creations were therefore given in translation (by Ursula Grützmacher). The original versions of Mein Kampf Farce and Weisman and Copperface were seen only some time after the German premieres, in the British creations directed by Michael Batz.
FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS
originally Joseph ben Matthatias (son of Matityahu the Priest), was born in Jerusalem in 37/38 and died in Rome around 100; He is a Roman historiographer of Jewish and Judean origin from the 1st century BCE. At the start of the conflict with the Empire he was governor of the rebellion in Galilee and fought the Romans. After the defeat of the Jewish forces of the rebellion he eventually became a Roman citizen, and had strong personal relations with the Emperor Vespasian and his family. His work, the original written in Hebrew or Aramaic no longer exists, he translated himself into Greek - is one of the main sources on the history of the Jewish People of the 1st century. He recounts, in Judaic Antiquities from 170 BC to 66 AD, and The Jewish War, from 67 AD to the the fall of Masada in 73/74 AD, in particular, the events and conflicts of its time between Rome and Jerusalem.These works remain the prime source, even though they have occasionally given rise to controversies among current historians.
NOTES ON THE PRODUCTION
Among George Tabori's plays, Masada is unique in two important ways: it was not written primarily in English, like all his other works, but in German, because it was the result of Tabori's work with its actors, typical in itself, but based on the German translation of The Jewish War. And when normally, at the time of this play, George had at his disposal the entire ensemble of Vienna's Burgtheater in numbers, Masada was premiered in his own little theatre called "Der Kreis ", which was located in an old small disused cinema not far from Berggasse, where Sigmund Freud lived....
George always said that he worked equally in cathedrals and catacombs, but that he much preferred the latter; of course, the majority of Kreis productions were a lot less "heavy" than its usual "cast" (which ranges from 6 for Mein Kampf - Farce to 7/8 for Jubilee, or even more for Shakespeare productions...
(the photos, by the way, are all from George Tabori’s original production!)
Nevertheless, Tabori was able to work with the best actors available: Hildegard Schmahl, who had already played for him in his production of Gaston Salvatore's Stalin, and especially that great German -Jewish actor, Michael Degen . The result was a magnificent, moving and instructive evening, as much a bringing-to-life of history as a score for virtuoso actors.
This period was probably the zenith of his creativity, without wanting to diminish the work Tabori did later at the Berliner Ensemble, or his earlier experimental productions, in Bremen, Munich, etc. This golden era saw the birth of Mein Kampf -Farce, Weisman and Copperface, Goldberg Variations, Babylon Blues, and his staging of Shakespeare's Othello, all at the "Burg", while at the Kreis he did Masada, Lear, and his Shakespeare Collage, Verliebte und Verrückte (Lunatics and Lovers), among others.
As I began, at the same time, to do the British premieres of two of his major works, I had the privilege of spending a lot of time at his side and, the greatest privilege of all, to become his friend, despite the difference in age and experience and my nervousness and constant "worrying", compared to his superhuman calm, and his relaxed humor. So I was able to see his productions , and work with him, which not only influenced and improved my productions in Britain, but had a lasting effect on my life and work. In addition, he was kind enough, after seeing my work, to become “patron” of my little company, like Dario Fo; and even when I worked on other texts afterwards, the “Tabori way” of approaching theatre became essential for me; George Tabori and Dario Fo are probably the biggest living influences on me as a theatre-maker, and even though the two seem different on the surface, they have a lot in common...but I digress.
When you love someone, you don't forget; and you go back again and again to his writings. And at this moment of upheaval in my career it seems right to return to my master's work: he was never far away, I would always have loved to remake Mein Kampf Farce; and for years i have wanted to create Jubilee which has never been seen either in France or in England. Thus, we embark on a new path; and therefore, to start with, Masada…
This is not just a way of telling, again, the story or part of the story of the Jewish War, as Flavius Josephus transmitted it to us. This element exist, of course, in all its contradictions, which derive in part from the very ambiguous figure of the historian: Josephus made a very great effort to be objective, and precisely did not want to write in criticizing the Jews; but it can’t be denied that he also suffered from his role as a Roman citizen, close to the imperial family. From this tension a very great text was born: this would never have been the case if written by another Roman historian, even at the level of a Tacitus or Suetonius; or if he had vigorously taken the other side, that of the defeated Jews. No, it is in the subtleties and contradictions of his position that the tale takes its strength: it is precisely not in simple black and white, like most journalism these days, or, I dare say, many contemporary historians.
But Tabori wants more than just an adaptation. That's why he succeeds where others have failed, even great artists like Amos Gitai the Israeli filmmaker, with his version at the 2009 Avignon Festival, with the late Jeanne Moreau. (“sterile highlighting of a particularly fertile text”, Le Monde). He also brings to the project his experience and that of his family, that of the Jews of Central Europe of the 20th century. And so it is inevitable that the memory of the Shoah is added to the dichotomy of Josephus' position, the terror and tragedy of the victims and those who survived, and also the dilemma between the exiles and those who remained.... As Primo Levi calls them, "the Drowned and the Saved", he, who was also "saved", in extremis.
In the play there is the "Woman of Eleazar's family" as Tabori calls the woman in this four-handed play: because there are two protagonists here: Josephus, and A Woman - the woman who according to the story was, with two children, the only survivor of the collective suicide of the Jews of Masada. It was to this Woman that Tabori gave the most profound and terrible sentences written by Josephus the historian. And the arguments take place not only between the dead and the survivors, but between two ways of surviving; arguments that will continue and can never be resolved, because each position has its moral force. The only solution for humanity is to never force people to make such a choice.
It is perhaps because of the impossibility of taking sides that Tabori leaves Josephus' text at a key moment: and he gives the Woman sentences from the Jewish-German poet Paul Celan, to answer the question: "and How did you survive?”
Masada is an important text for today's theatre: it speaks of the dangers of extremism which still haunts that part of the world; impossible contradictions forced on people trying to escape wars; the fight for a better world, where such things don’t happen.
The text is partly direct narrative, and partly dialogue between the two protagonists, but without deviating much from the original text. As in Tabori ‘s production, many years ago, two actors of great experience and virtuosity are absolutely necessary to bring this historical text to life and infuse it with a strong individual humanity, far from any abstraction.
Therefore it is first of all in my work with the actors, following the “Tabori school”, that I will develop the play into a “show”, and communicate the story to the public. The set design is meant to evoke the aridity of the Judean desert where Masada is located; and at the same time elements of exile and memory.
Director : MICHAEL BATZ
With George and BB with Isabel Allende with Dario Fo (in rehearsal)
Michael has tried to achieve his aim and his dream to create a form of magical realism and give a voice to the “voiceless”, with his international troupe featuring many exiled and refugee artists: In Britain, for more than 15 years, he was often the first to direct major playwrights like George Tabori, Bernard-Marie Koltès, Heiner Müller, Gabriel García Márquez, Isabel Allende, Dario Fo, always in close contact with the authors; many of them have become friends. At the Edinburgh Festival he won a Fringe First award for his British Premiere of Federico Garcia Lorca's last play Comedy Without Title. His greatest creation to date was The House of The Spirits, Isabel Allende's marvellous novel about Chile, which he adapted together with the author: an extraordinary epic in 2 parts and 8 hours.
In recent years Michael has also worked a lot in Paris. His first creation in France was La Femme Fantôme (The Bogus Woman) by Kay Adshead, at the Theatre Gerard Philipe, Centre Dramatique National, in Saint-Denis, just outside Paris, and the Théâtre Vidy- Lausanne … - a major success, which launched 15 years of marvellous creations – including Bones by Kay Adshead, Red Devils by Debbie Horsfield - at the Festival of Avignon during the Football World Cup - , Burning Patience by Antonio Skarmetà, about Pablo Neruda and the Chilien dream (on the recommendation of Isabel Allende) , the French version of Lorca's last play Comedie Sans Titre, the first play by young Jamaican author Ava-Gail Gardiner, The Cage, premiered in Haiti, Martinique and Guadeloupe; a collage of Songs, poems and prose by Pablo Neruda and Victor Jara, Chanson pour le Chili, to commemorate the coup d'etat against Allende; adaptations of Isabel Allende's short stories Tales of Eva Luna; Working Girls, a series of all-female one-woman-plays; and many more. He has also led a great number of workshops, both for professionals and amateurs, and he became well known for the quality of his outreach work in a particular suburb or town, open to all the inhabitants.
He was appointed director of the Salvador Allende Festival in 2008 by the mayor of Paris, to commemorate Allende's centenary,; he was resident artist with his troupe in Saint Denis, Cergy-Pontoise, Sevran and other places in the Paris region. Other than that he has taught at university level and in theatre schools, above all Elizabethan theatre and Feminist Film studies; he is also an expert in Commedia dell'arte, having worked in Italy with Dario Fo , Amleto Satori and Ferrucio Soleri, and he has given master-classes in Commedia at French national theatres,
He has rarely had time to work much as an actor, but did something for Ridley Scott in Bladerunner, and recently played Sganarelle in Moliere's Don Juan in Corsica.
To speak with someone who knows him well, contact : Robin Renucci (Director of La Criée National Theatre, Marseille); Erhard Stiefel (Master of Masks, Theatre du Soleil,Paris); David Kenig (Director of Les Tréteaux de France CDN); Veronique Casassus (Former Director of Culture of the Departement of Val d’Oise - [email protected] ); Jatinder Verma (Former Director of Tara Arts Theatre London - [email protected]); Hassan Kouyaté (Director Festival Les Francophonies in Limoges); Bernard Lagier (Former Director of Scène Nationale of Martinique); Thierry Pariente (Chief Inspector of Theatre at the French Ministry of Culture, Paris).