Quartet (Müller)

Quartet is a play written by the (formerly East) German playwright Heiner Müller. The play is first written on 1980, and premiered at Schauspielhaus Bochum on 1982, under the director BK Tragelehn. Quartet is an adaptation of Choderlos de Laclos's novel, Les Liaisons Dangereuses. The play's setting is chaotic, as in the beginning of the play, Müller wrote:

"Space-time:

salon before the French Revolution/

bunker after WWW III"

The adaptation and setting may symbolizes the birth of modern Europe and the eventual death of it. The play features lots of role switching, as the protagonists switching their roles constantly, and 4 characters are only being played by one actor and one actress. The play also has intense cruel erotica and violence. It explored some deep existential questions about love, annihilation, conflicts between desire, sexual sensations and reason, and madness.

Characters

Marquise Merteuil

Vicomte Valmont

Volange

de Tourvel

Plot

The protagonists, Merteuil and her former lover Valmont try to forget and dodge their doom by practicing excessive sex. But they become bored after too many practices. So they turn their attention to seduce Merteuil's virginal niece, Volange, and the virtuous wife Madame de Tourvel, take away their innocence and have fun from humiliating and abusing them. But inevitably the destruction comes...

Themes

The play explores the relationship between sex and death. It suggests a strong connection between those two. when they are thinking about death, they have a feeling similar to organism. Merteuil once said to Valmont: "there's no man who wouldn't get a harden at the idea of his own precious flesh passing away".

Performance

1982 Schauspielhaus Bochum, premiered on April 7, director BK Tragelehn

1983 Vienna Schauspielhaus, Austrian premiere on February 5, Staging: Hans Gratzer (with Erni Mangold and Joachim Unmack )

1985 Schauspielhaus Cologne, Director: Dimiter Gotscheff

1987 Schlosstheater Ludwigsburg, Staging Robert Wilson

1987 Theater am Turm Frankfurt, Director: Michael Haneke (with Elke Lang and Rüdiger Hacker )

1993 Primitive Science London, staging Marc Henning

1994 Berliner Ensemble, Director: Heiner Müller (with Marianne Hoppe and Martin Wuttke )

1994 Theater cooperation Solingen, Man in the Moon Theatre London, Staging: Andreas Schäfer (with Claudia Gahrke and Gerlinde Valtin )

1995 Free Theatre Bozen, staging Reinhard Auer (with Gabriele Long and Thomas Radleff )

1999 Theater in the Square Hall, Staging: Christoph Meier beer (with Anke Tornow and Sigurd Bemme)

2006 Schauspielhaus Wien (co-production with Toneelhuis Antwerp), Director: Peter Misotten

2007 Salzburg Festival, staging Barbara Frey, with Barbara Sukowa and Jeroen Willems

2009 Staatsoper Stuttgart, Director: Thomas Bischoff, Music: FM unit

2010 Hamburger Sprechwerk, Premiere February 24, 2010, Director: Erik Fiebiger, With: Julia Dilg & Wolfgang Hartmann

2010 Berne City Theatre, director: Erich Sidler (with Heidi Maria Glössner, Andri Schenardi, Mike Svoboda (trombone), Philip Zoubek ( prepared piano ), Philipp Ludwig Stangl (video, composition & live electronics ))

2011 theater laboratory Bremen, Premiere June 5, 2011, Director: Andreas Menzel (with Kathrin Steinweg, Alexander Abramyan and Anna Ewald (flute))

2003 German National Theatre, Premiere October 22, 2013, directed by Enrico Stolzenburg (with Elke Wieditz and Bernd Lange)

2013 Anhalt Theatre Dessau, Premiere December 7, 2013, Director: Axel Sichrovsky (with Natalie Hünig and Sebastian Müller-Stahl)

2014 Theater in der Josefstadt, Premiere 6 February 2014, directed by Hans Neuenfels (with Elisabeth Trissenaar and Helmuth Lohner)

2016 Célestins Lyon, Première January 6, 2016 Director: Michel Raskine (with Marief Guittier et Thomas Perregaux)

2016 Wuppertal Opera, Premiere February 4, 2016, directed by Uwe Dreysel (Solo for Uwe Dreysel)