BUEDG - 1994: Man of Destiny

The Players:

Napoleon Bonaparte .........................Martin Salzer

The Strange Lady .............................Sabine Taronna

Giuseppe Grandi ...............................Lutz Reuter
(landlord of the taverna in Tavazzanor)

A French lieutenant ..........................Rainer Streng

The Experts:

Make-up ..............................................Ursula Sierek

Lighting ...............................................Jason Harder

Sound ..................................................Volkhart Baumgärtner

Costumes .............................................Annette Krauße

Props ...................................................Gertrud Fay, Rudi Oppelt

Front of house ...................................Claudia Claridge, Christoph Futschek, Rainer Schlötterer

Poster design by Melanie Reynolds

Lighting design by Josef Weyrauther

Directed and narrated by Michael Claridge

The scene is set in a taverna in the village of Tavazzano, northern Italy
between Lodi and Milan.
The time runs from early to late evening on 12th May, 1796.

The Play

The Napoleon whom we see in this play - itself a fiction, of course - is a figure unknown to many who have not stuthed this period in France's history. At the time, the country was ruled by the Directoire, or Directory, the group of five men running France from 1795 until their overthrow by Napoleon. He, for his part, was attempting to gain more power by a politically dubious method - by using his wife, the famous Josephine, to seduce one of the Directors, Barras. This is one of the matters referred to in the course of The Man of Destiny - indeed, a letter from Josephine to Barras, one written without Napoleon's knowledge, serves as the focal point around which the action in the play revolves.

What was Shaw's purpose in writing the play? Critics tend to dismiss it as a lightweight work deserving little attention. lt is true, of course, that it does not have the power of Arms and the Man, Saint Joan, The Devil's Disciple, or Pygmalion. However, Shaw was not a man to neglect the entertaining aspect in his works, and one should not concern oneself solely with polemic when examining his plays.

At the same time, The Man of Destiny does bear a message, one contained primarily in a speech by Napoleon towards the end of the play. His main target is his great enemy, the English, whom he describes - Shaw the dramatist putting the words of the real Napoleon into the mouth of his stage figure as „a nation of shopkeepers"; however, Shaw the polemicist takes the opportunity to also attack the English for their colonization and colonialism - something equally valid for the neocolonialism practised by so many so-called First World countries today:

„No Englishman is too low to have scruples: no Englishman is high enough to be free from their tyranny. But every Englishman is born with a certain miraculous power that makes him master of the world. When he wants a thing, he never tells himself that he wants it. He waits patiently until there comes into his mind, no one knows how, a burning conviction that it is his moral and religious duty to conquer those who possess the thing he wants. Then he becomes irresistible. Like the aristocrat, he does what pleases him and grabs what he desires; like the shopkeeper, he pursues his purpose with the industry and determination that come from a strong religious conviction and a deep sense of moral responsibility. He is never at a loss for an effective moral attitude. As the great champion of freedom and national independence, he conquers and annexes half the world, and calls it Colonization. When he wants a new market for his inferior goods, he sends a missionary to teach the natives the Gospel of Peace. The natives kill the missionary: he takes up arms in defence of Christianity; fights for it; conquers for it; and takes the market as a reward from heaven. In defence of his island shores, he puts a priest on board his ship; nails a flag with a cross on it to his mast; and sails to the ends of the earth, sinking, burning, and destroying all who dispute the empire of the seas with him. He boasts that a slave is free the moment his foot touches British soil; and he sells the children of his poor at six years of age to work under the whip in his factories for sixteen hours a day. He makes two revolutions, and then declares war on our one in the name of law and order. Nothing is so bad or so good that you will not find Englishmen doing it; but you will never find an Englishman in the wrong. He does every thing on principle. He fights you on patriotic principles; he robs you on business principles; he enslaves you on imperial principles; he orders you about and threatens you on manly principles; he supports his king on loyal principles and cuts off his king's head on republican priciples. His watchword is always Duty; and he never forgets that the nation which lets its duty get on the opposite side to its interest is lost."

(compiled by Mike Claridge)

For this Relief Much Thanks:

Rainer Lewandowski, director of the E.T.A.-Hoffmann-Theater, for making the Studio available to us again

Rudolf Grafberger, Bürgermeister, for pemission to use the Studio

The staff at the E.T.A.-Hoffmann-Theater for assistance in so many ways: Josef Weyrauther [lighting], Annette Krauße [costumes], Gertrud Fay and Rudi Oppelt [props], plus the publicity department

Professor Jochum, Lehrstuhl für Englische Literaturwissenschaft, for encouragement and support

Ingeborg Peñalba for hopeful advice and comments, plus useful supplies of various goodies!

Herr Rau, Stadtbrandinspektor, for consultation and advice

Frau Dachwald from the Press Office of Bamberg University for publicity work

And a very special "thank-you" to the man who made it all possible, our masterwizard and conjuror of white rabbits out of black hats (or vice versa), Our Man in the Bowler Hat ... er ... ETA-H-T, Stefan Dzierzawa

And the press said...

(Fränkischer Tag vom 10. Mai 1994)

Poker mit Napoleon
In Englisch: Shaws „Man of Destiny" am Markusplatz

Zu einer festen Einrichtung im Kulturleben Bambergs ist die Bamberg University English Drama Group geworden. Mit großzügiger Unterstützung des Bamberger Stadttheaters führt sie alljährlich im Studio am Markusplatz ein Stück In englischer Sprache auf. In diesem Jahr hat sich der Napoleon des Bamberger Studententheaters, Michael Claridge, den historischen Bonaparte vorgenommen - wie ihn George Bernard Shaw in seinem Stück „The Man of Destiny" sieht.
So wie ihn Shaw auf die Bühne bringt, ist dies nicht der Held der Geschichtsbücher, sondern es ist ein noch junger und auf Ruhm hoffender Napoleon zum Anfassen gewissermaßen, verwickelt in ein Duell mit einer fremden Dame, die es verstanden hat, einem seiner (dümmlichen) Offiziere gewisse Geheimdepeschen zu entwenden, unter die sich ein privater Brief gemischt hat, der Auskunft gibt über Josephines Verhältnis zu (mit?) Barras.

Was folgt, ist ein „battle of wit" zwischen Napoleon und eben dieser Dame, die, aus welchem Grund auch immer, zunächst verhindern wollte, daß Napoleon diesen Brief liest. Aber Napoleon wäre nicht Napoleon, wenn er seinen Willen nicht bekäme: er liest den bewußten Brief, aber, was hat er davon?

George Bernard Shaws „The Man of Destiny" ist ein well-made play, dessen Handlungsstruktur im Grunde von einem Bühnenrequisit bestimmt wird, das hin- und herwandert und an das sich subtile psychologische und interaktive Manöver knüpfen. Die fremde Dame Ist Napoleon durchaus ebenbürtig, oder, sollen wir sagen, überlegen?

Die Studiobühne des E.T.A.-Hoffmann-Theaters gibt für ein solches Stück den passenden Rahmen ab, und die Schauspieler, die Michael Claridge aufbietet, sind schon in den letzten Inzenierungen in Paraderollen hervorgetreten. Imponierend die Textsicherheit aller Akteure: Sabine Taronna; die im letzten Jahr in der Rolle eines weiblichen Dr. Faustus zu überzeugen wußte, kann die Strange Lady eindrucksvoll in Szene setzen. Selbst Napoleon schmilzt (fast) von ihrem Charme dahin. Martin Salzer, der einen attraktiven (und unterkühlten) Napoleon abgibt, hat alle Hände voll zu tun, um nicht ins Hintertreffen zu geraten, doch immer wieder weiß er sich - soeben noch - vor dieser fordernden Dame zu retten.

In einer komischen Paraderolle überzeugt Lutz Reuter als Gastwirt der Taverne, in der Napoleon untergekommen ist. Mit sonorer Stimme spielt Rainer Streng einen naiven, aber von sich selbst überzeugten, urkomischen französischen Leutnant, der beweist, daß ein Pferd eine Schlacht gewinnen kann.

Michael Claridge selbst setzt als Theatre Manager George Bernard Shaws eher längliche Regieanweisungen in lebendiges Theater um. Was sich dort im Studio am Markusplatz abspielt, ist einmal mehr sehenswert. Die nächsten Veranstaltungen finden am 11., 12. und 13. Mai statt. Einlaß ist jeweils ab 19.15 Uhr.

eme

We wish you well... [or should that be „what"?]