Shamsul Islam on Wolfgang Kolneder

The Pioneer, New Delhi, 12-04-1995

German director Wolfgang Kolneder was in the Capital recently to direct a play for National School of Drama-Theatre-in-Education. Shamsul Islam speaks to the ambassador of Grips Theatre.

ENCOURAGING CHILDREN TO QUESTION

Rightly described as the ambassador of Grips Theatre to the world, German theatre personality Wolfgang Kolneder was in the Capital recently to direct Pani Phir Gaya Pani Par for the Theatre-in-Education Company of the National School of Drama (NSD-TIE).

Based on a German Grips Theatre play, Wasser in Eimer, Pani deals with the themes of pollution and environment. The Hindi translation has been done by Jayant Vohra. The music has been scored by BV Karanth while Neelima Sharma has composed the songs.

The production left Kolneder totally disillusioned. “It was a complete catastrophe, crazy and completely insane. The costume, sets and props came only on the opening day itself. This happened because the TIE Company did not have its own budget and set-up. It had to go to the National School of Drama management for buying or hiring every nail, every piece of thread,” he says.

However, it was the music composed by B V Karanth that troubled him the most. “I have been trained as a classical musician. I wept through the performance. The music was a total flop,” he says. It was ready only two days before the opening night, Kolneder had earlier been warned by the NSD actors that Karanth was a very disorganized person and was always late.

“But I was not expecting him to be that late. Instead of feeling sorry he told me that we should not feel bad as Indians start fighting only when war has begun? I was sorry for the wonderful actors of the TIE Company. They had to pay for the negligence of others,” says Kolneder.

The origin of Grips Theatre Movement in the ‘70s in West Germany was quite an event. In Kolneder’s words, “Grips in the northern German dialect mans the ability to understand quickly and have fun. It all started as a direct corollary of massive anti-American, anti-Vietnam War students movement of 1969.”

Kolneder explains that in West Germany, Grips developed into an anti-authoritarian or anti-Nazi movement. “It was a well-known fact that almost all our parents were Nazi supporters. Though Hitler was singled out as the main culprit, we knew he was not the only culprit. The anti-authoritarian movement of 1969 provided us with an opportunity to investigate ruthlessly the social and cultural factors which helped in the rise of Nazism,” says Kolneder.

He adds that it was realized that German family life was too autocratic and parents enjoyed total authority over their wards. Nazism flourished due to this kind of an authoritarian structure. The hierarchical structure helped to create a slave mentality on which a Fascist leadership could thrive. In order to do away with the root cause it was decided that a concerted cultural attempt should be made which challenged all attempts at regimentation of children.

Theatre had great potential to convey this message across and writers like Volker Ludwig took up the tasks of authoring plays for the Grips Theatre Movement. It was a herculean task, for so far children’s theatre only meant putting up fairy tales around Christmas.

Kolneder came to lead the Grips Theatre Movement only in 1972 after an eventual stint with street theatre propagating Maoist ideals in West Germany. Born into a family of musicians, he remembers his father as a diehard Nazi. It was as a revolt against his father that Kolneder turned to Marxism. He represented the Maoist stream in the 1969 anti-imperialist student movement which engulfed not only West Germany but also the whole of Europe and the USA.  

Apart from editing Socialist Review for Art and Society, he organized a street theatre group in West Berlin for his Maoist organization. He remembers those days with nostalgia. “I have been a theatre person throughout my life. I joined the Maoist movement and immediately formed a street theatre group for the party. We would perform from 5 am outside bus stations, tube stations, factory entrances, selling along 2,000-3,000 copies of Red Flag. Actors were either students or workers having allegiance to the party. It is not possible to forget those times, “he says.

He abandoned street theatre because he parted company with the Maoists. “I broke with the party after the killing of Allende, the then President of Chile, by reactionary forces back in that country. We held a big rally in West Berlin against his killing. And next week we read in Peking Review that the Maoist Government in Peking had recognized the military regime of Chile led by Pinochet. They even claimed that they were the first one to do it! Astonishingly our party supported Peking’s stand. It shocked me and I was so fed-up and angry that in no time I bade them goodbye. Immediately I joined Grips theatre.”

Kolender believes that it was no less revolutionary to stage Grips Theatre performances as it concerned children who are our future generations. “And if we want to change the world, we have no choice but to groom them,” he says adding that children are the most underprivileged in society.

“Children are in a far worse position than even women. While women have a lobby in the form of feminist movement, children don’t even have that. Moreover, children cannot express themselves,” he says.

As far as Kolneder is concerned, Grips Theatre is the most revolutionary tasks around. He does not forget to mention that Grips Theatre immediately drew flak from the conservative sections. They were blamed for turning children into ruffians, disobedient and disorderly, “We were derided for turning children into Communists. The performances were banned in all Berlin districts run by the Christian Democratic Party.”

However, after years of animosity from conservative parents, teachers, and politicians, Grips Theatre was able to establish itself on the German stage and become popular internationally.

“Mind you, we faced all this music for simply arguing that children should be encouraged to ask questions,” says Kolneder.

The theatre activist is quick to explain the difference between Grips Theatre on the one hand and the concept of theatre-in-education on the other. “Grips should not be confused with TIE or street children theatre. In TIE, theatre is like a teacher. Grips theatre is not didactic. It does not believe in the maxim that children are like empty bags and you have to fill them with your kind of stuff. We do not want to teach children. We want to pass a message, of course, but we want to give them the best of entertainment so that they, can laugh and enjoy and keep their creativity intact,” says Kolneder.

According to him, another important characteristic of Grips is that “here adult actors are enacting children’s roles. For us, theatre for children is not a part-time activity. If we have child actors, they would not be able to do many shows. Professional actors on the contrary can put up as many shows as required,” he explains. 

Much impressed by the Indian theatre scene, he finds that it is very lively and multi-faceted. “I have never been disappointed while working with Indian actors. They are genuinely talented and not afraid of making mistakes. They have a sense of curiosity,” about them. 

However, there is a kind of theatre in India which he profoundly dislikes–“That is the kind of English speaking theatre that Alyque Padamsee or his clan in India does. It is western bullshit. It is not even Indian bullshit, it is the same stuff which thrives in Europe as cheap musical theatre.”