Greek - Steven Berkoff

Greek is Berkoff's realization of the Oedipus myth, set in contemporary (1980s) London. What I found really fascinating was his ability to so clearly describe and make the reader feel the plague on England at this time, but at the same time, it is not possible to articulate the plague in a concise manner; hate, racism, poverty, lies all play into it, and yet that only begins to explain it.

The language is visceral, gutsy, disgusting and beautiful. The structure is remarkably open, remarkably full of words and yet leaves you a feeling of emptiness after reading it.

HamletMachine - Heiner Mueller

I rather enjoyed the premise of this play, beginning with the character Hamlet and unmasking the actor to be a sort of everyman, encountering the world. The message seemed to be that our "modern myths" of the theatre have not prepared us sufficiently for the brutal reality of the world. Even the greatest tragedy, Hamlet, did not prepare us for the machine of mass culture, horrific violence, and disconnection of humanity.

The structure was interesting; it may have been the translation, but I wasn't always sure whether what I was reading was a stage direction or text for a character. This makes for some great variety in choices for producing the play, which I do find intriguing. What also really stood out was the poetry in the language, even translated to English from its original German this had a beautiful yet violent rhythm in the text.

Somehow, decade over decade, the German theatre artists continue to fascinate me.