Imagination

• These are three of the central themes of Thomas Bernhard’s rarely performed play The President.
• The Austrian is one of the greatest writers of the 20th century, best known in the English-speaking world as a novelist.
• By the same token – and this is something Felski neglects to mention – his writing can be extremely funny.

A complex writer

• Through childhood and adolescence he was unhappy and suffered from a host of life-threatening lung ailments.
• Eventually, his tuberculous-damaged lungs put paid to his youthful musical aspirations of being an opera singer, so he turned to writing.
• Throughout his career, Bernhard’s feelings about his homeland were complex and fraught.
• He was repeatedly attacked for being a Nestbeschmutzer, which roughly translates as “one who fouls their own nest”.

The political landscape of 1975

The President was Bernhard’s response to the volatile political climate in Europe of the time. The president of Bernhard’s demanding play – a fascist dictator in all but name – has just survived an attempt on his life. Anarchists are responsible. There is a possibility the president’s son, who has disappeared, pulled the trigger.

• It was no coincidence the original production opened at the Stuttgart State Theatre on May 21 1975: the same date and city where the key members of the Red Army Faction went on trial.
• The Red Army Faction was also vocal and scathing about Germany’s unwillingness to properly confront its Nazi past.

‘Uncomfortable truths’

The creative team behind this version of The President clearly know their history. In his directorial program notes, Creed acknowledges the violent actions of the Red Army Faction would have loomed large in the imagination of audiences in 1975.

• Similarly, Weaving has spoken approvingly of Bernhard’s willingness to speak “a lot of uncomfortable truths to his own country”.
• In equal measure, however, both Creed and Weaving believe Bernhard’s historically timestamped play can tell us something about the here and now.

Alexander Howard does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.