“ Leaving and Remaining ” - The Staging of Europe in the Work of Maxi Obexer Karsten Forbrig (Nantes) Nominated for the Ingeborg-Bachmann-Prize in 2017 with her novel-essay Europas längster Sommer the German speaking novelist and playwright Margareth “ Maxi ” Obexer explores in her work three key concepts, namely identity, migration and the staging of Europe through several artistical approaches and formats. The following article will retrace chronologically some of these migration movements and representations of Europe in order to show the development of these different genres in the work of the co-founder of NIDS - Neues Institut für Dramatisches Schreiben (New Institute for Dramatic Writing). It will be demonstrated that Obexer, starting from her personal migrant experience, progressively proceeds towards an engaged writing which - despite all the critique - in the end tries to defend a European utopia based on interpersonal relationships, hospitality and exchange. Long before the historical sentence “ We can do this! ” was pronounced by Angela Merkel in response to the 2015 migrant crisis and long before the German public became aware of the multiple human catastrophes taking place in the Mediterranean, notably along the Italian coast, the Germanophone novelist and playwright Margareth “ Maxi ” Obexer had already focused work on European migrant history. Nominated for the Ingeborg Bachmann Prize in 2017 for her novel-essay Europas längster Sommer, 1 Obexer explores this subject through several artistic approaches and in various formats including short novels, semi-fictional novels, fictional dramas, radio dramas, semifictional dramas, and documentary theatre. Despite the differences in the forms used, the author from Brixen in South Tyrol persists in her questioning of three key concepts or topics: identity, migration and the staging of Europe. In the following essay I will retrace chronologically some of these migration movements and representations of Europe in order to present the development of these subjects in the work of the co-founder of NIDS - Neues Institut für Dramatisches Schreiben (New Institute for Dramatic Writing). A Stranger in Her Own Tongue Despite all the misdirection that a biographical approach could imply, it seems obvious in the case of Margareth “ Maxi ” Obexer, that the main focus of her writing is deeply linked to her origin. Born in 1970 as a member of the German-speaking minority in the north of Italy, she has always had a special relation to language as a vector for identity construction. During her adolescence, she experienced the paradox of a life as an Italian citizen in a German-speaking enclave that isolated itself from the European reality around it. After a first “ break-out ” from Brixen to Bozen during her time at secondary school, Obexer left the suffocating atmosphere of the former Austrian province to do her studies in Vienna and Berlin where she also started to live her homosexual identity. It is actually this sec- Forum Modernes Theater, 31/ 1-2 (2020), 187 - 197. Gunter Narr Verlag Tübingen DOI 10.2357/ FMTh-2020-0017 ond “ break-out ” that gives more and more shape to a feeling that Obexer already experienced at home: being a stranger in her own (mother) tongue. As a representative of so-called minor language, she was confronted to the normative power of the standard German and its exclusionary effects. This double-bind feeling of attraction and repulsion towards the author ’ s mother tongue received literary expression in the short prose anthology Das Herz eines Bastards, 2 and most especially in the eponymous short story, as well as in Die Wortlose. 3 Whereas the latter text clearly ties in with a modern critique of language, Das Herz eines Bastards reflects more on the somatic effects or physical translations of this experience of foreignness. In an allegorical turn, the narrator associates herself with a mutt, a bastard dog, that cannot cope with the purebreds and their world surrounding her but who, nevertheless, discovers the advantages of being marginal, of being special. Fifteen years later, the self-declared “ dog lover ” , Obexer will integrate these rather personal experiences and analysis in her novel-essay about the European migrant crisis. Staging the European Perspective With the eyes of an inner European migrant or a “ bastard ” as she would call herself, Obexer focuses during the following years on “ Europe ’ s growing unease with regard to certain incidents in the European margins ” , 4 as it is euphemistically stated in Das Geisterschiff. 5 This dark allegorical comedy in 22 scenes based on personnel research at the Sicilian coast was created during an artist ’ s residency at Schloss Solitude near Stuttgart. The “ play ” 6 stages the European perspective on the migration crisis in three complementary strands of narration. All three are linked by the tragic death of 283 people off the “ Silucien ” coast near “ Portoceleste ” 7 and “ The European Congress concerning Europe ’ s growing unease with regard to certain incidents in the European margins ” 8 that also takes place in the fictional town. Unlike the German edition, the English translation by Marlene Norst contains paratextual elements that resulted from the first experiences staging Das Geisterschiff in cooperation with Obexer: Although there are different and changing scenes, it is advisable not to stage them naturalistically but on a single stage space. The actors are partly on stage already or remain on stage after their entry, which takes account of the fact that, although the play is a fiction, it is based on documentary evidence and has the potential for further ‘ negotiation ’ . The use of film and/ or video material might well be considered so as to provide visuals of the ship-wreck, other ships and refugee boats, while Live-Cams could be used to show the on-looker as someone who looks on. 9 Even though Obexer rarely works as a stage director, she often contributes to the productions as a consultant, co-director or dramatic adviser, which allows her to pursue her work and to adapt the texts in order to develop a stronger impact according to the type of media (theatre, radio, exhibition) and the kind of audience that she is dealing with. The explicit promotion of postdramatic aesthetics in order to underscore the documentary elements and to reinforce the interpellating nature of the “ merged ” scenography is the product of a first stage experiment. A partisan of the evolving text, Maxi Obexer likewise recommended the use of those techniques to focus the dramatic action in the final monologue of the curator during our collaboration in the context of the “ Creation & Crisis ” - Project in March 2017 in Nantes, France. In the intervening time, she also extracted the second narrative strand concerning the 188 Karsten Forbrig two cruise ship passengers and transformed it into an original play entitled Die Fliegenden Holländer 10 - The Flying Dutchmen. This text deals already with the crime of aiding and abetting illegal entry and residence. Obexer focused again on this topic in her prizewinning documentary-based radio play Illegale Helfer. 11 The main narrative of Das Geisterschiff is driven by two ambitious young journalists who intend to jumpstart their careers by winning the prize for the most promising young journalist that will be awarded on the occasion of the “ European Congress ” . In order to create an authentic but more exciting piece of investigative journalism, the two career-minded reporters plan to do a series of interviews about the drownings. They start with the fisherman Christoforo Volpe, who supposedly found human bones in his nets. After, the two journalists continue their investigation by confronting representatives of the different authorities: political (the Mayor), legal (the Assessor), and religious (Don Palatino) with the facts and with their lack of adequate response. One of the secondary strands of narration stages two cruise ship passengers on their way to the forum. These two, like the inhabitants of Portoceleste, are above all characterized by their profession. The first introduces himself as a mortician who has obviously joined the forum for professional purposes only. The second one reveals himself to be an academic specialized in the humanities who tries to exploit the migrant crisis for his next scientific paper. The dramatic construction is completed by the character of the female curator who appears throughout the play in several monologues and who is looking for the perfect artistic contribution to the congress. In a certain way Obexer follows the Austrian tradition of the Volksstück and relies on allegoric characters, burlesque effects and a self-denouncing logorrhoea. By alternating among the narrative strands 12 and the social spheres of media, politics, religion, science and arts Obexer succeeds in displaying the specifically European ways of dealing with these daily human catastrophes that seems to be perceived of either as a threat or as an economic opportunity. The two journalists, for instance, try to manipulate the testimony of Volpe by alternately putting pressure on the fisherman, pretending feelings of compassion and insisting on the fact that they want to hear “ about the bones ” . 13 The Assessor, to take another example, is the incarnation of the flimsy opportunist politician seeking power, who first dehumanises, almost obliterates the affair by reducing it to a question of international maritime law before revealing his deeply rooted racism in a speech marked by colonial imagery. ASSESSOR: It ’ s millimeters that separate us from the Black Continent, we are the furthest point, the last tip of civilized Europewith a hint of blue eyes and then there ’ s Africa, Africans and Cannibals! Do you understand now? It only needs a few dead people in the water and everybody takes us for them. Millimetres. And yet kilometers and the whole of the Occident separate us. 14 While the one representative of the political and legal spheres draws an image of Europe as a fortress that needs to be defended against the “ Cannibals ” , the other seems to preach hospitality. MAYOR: Well then, not just three months, not six months, Portoceleste has set itself the goal of creating tourism that extends for more than twelve months. We ’ re aiming at a year with thirteen, even fourteen months. The beaches are clean, the dung heaps you would have found there ten years ago, have vanished, we welcome visitors. 15 The ongoing transformation of the small seaport into an artificial tourist attraction without any proper sustainable economic life described by the mayor is based, on the 189 “ Leaving and Remaining ” - The Staging of Europe in the Work of Maxi Obexer one hand, on the stereotype folkloric image of Southern Italy and, on the other hand, on the spectacularisation and commercialisation of the migration crisis through inaugurations of memorials or the organisation of social gatherings like the “ European congress ” . It seems to be rather obvious that the actual presence of migrants would be “ bad for business ” . Hypocrisy instead of hospitality - without any doubt the rhetoric flexibility of the mayor outclasses his assessor. Therefore it is no surprise that the highest-ranking political representative succeeds in perverting the question of responsibility in the name of the Rule of Law: MAYOR: In Europe, everyone has the right to arrive. To begin with everyone must be allowed to arrive. At least to find out if it was the right move. So it is, somehow, also one ’ s duty to arrive. Not to arrive and in the process to be killed, somehow goes against one ’ s own rights. 16 One could easily continue the list of double moral standards in the play with the selfimportant, but completely passive academic or the priest, Don Palatino, who hands over illegal migrants to the police. Instead, we will turn our attention to the female curator and the complex connections between the arts, the art-market, social engagement and the migration crisis. The four counterpoint-like monologues given to this character allow Obexer to ask questions about a possible parasitical relation between misery and engagement with that misery by the artist for individual, political, self-promotional or commercial reasons. Her artistic choice speaks for itself: CURATOR: The group is called “ Much Identity ” Yes, “ much ” like “ much ” , and their idea is nothing less than a new world-classification system! Yes / They divide the world up in a new way according to: spices, smells and tastes, / They subdivide countries by the way they smell. / States are created like: / Safran, Coriander, Garlic or Pepper / Identity cards, passports / are all a matter / of whether those belonging to the territory of Curry, Paprika. / or Chili, are to be numbered among / Cloves, Cinnamon, Vanilla / or Juniper, Thyme and Fennel. / There ’ ll be new axes, / The Rice, Wheat, Polenta, / Lentils, Semolina, and Potato axes. / How will nations / be formed? From now on from: / Cabbage Rolls, Wheatbran, Couscous, / Bean-zones, Mint-provinces, Sour cream-land. / Eating habits will be the deciding factor, / assuming the status of a religion. The motive is: / the dissolving of ingrained world divisions according to: / Nations, Religions, Languages or Colours. Important is: / the unmasking of national frontier divisions as constructs [. . .]. 17 This artistic concept is one of the rare alternatives to the Eurocentric vision exposed by the play. The group of artists “ Much Identity ” and the performers of “ The Ugly Parcel ” 18 seem to be the only ones still capable of critical reflection and able, moreover, to translate or transform those ideas into direct action. Nevertheless, this observation is subject to restrictions because, on the one hand, the engagement is based on their privileged socio-cultural position - a European performance-group pointing out the difficulties of migration that they have never experienced themselves - and, on the other hand, the commercial interrelations also represented by the character of the female curator continue to exist. Throughout her four monologues, Obexer develops this dialectic position. She opposes an “ utopian ” and an “ apocalyptic ” orientation of the artwork. This dichotomy calls to mind the Brechtian differentiation between an engaged critic and emancipated epic form and a dramatic form which encourages, like for the German playwright, the passive “ culinary ” attitude of consumerism towards the arts. This attitude is represented by the 190 Karsten Forbrig younger mistress of her husband and business associate, Rudi. 19 This in accordance with her political values as well as in an act of vengeance against her unfaithful husband, the female curator closes her inaugural speech for the “ European Congress ” with an injunction against double moral standards and for a new political utopia: CURATOR: Put a stop to your soup morality! Stop preventing everything! Stop it. You ’ re standing in the way! You haven ’ t got the right! You have no right to feel guilty! Put a stop to your impotence! Haven ’ t you got any utopias? As long as you have no utopias you have no right to apocalypses! No right to uneasiness! 20 The EU-topian Glance Across the Mediterranean Utopia or even EU-topia are the terms that also fit the image of Europe developed by the young Nigerian woman, Helen, who is the protagonist of Obexer ’ s novel Wenn gefährliche Hunde lachen 21 , published in 2011. Maxi Obexer created this with the help of the NGO Women in Exile basing it mainly on interviews with female migrants. The novel relates Helen ’ s long and painful journey to Germany. Before publishing the novel, the interview material was used for her audio-installation Defending Europe at the Franzenfeste near Bozen on the occasion of the European Art Biennale “ Manifesta ” in 2008. The 161 pages are subdivided in three parts, which correspond to the main parts of her journey: from Lagos/ Nigeria to Tanger/ Morocco, the period in the Moroccan brothel, the journey within Europe. To tell her story, Obexer introduces several layers of narration starting with a heterodiegetic narrator who is interrupted by long passages of dialogue. She contrasts the ongoing narration with excerpts from Helen ’ s diary that appear in italics. Each entry is written as a letter to one of her family members and depending on to whom she writes, the story changes. While the letters to the whole family underscore her gratefulness and emphasize the positive aspects of the new life to come, Helen partially confides in her sister, Pat, and only in Pat, about how her beloved Benjamin betrayed her, about the prostitution that paid for the crossing, and about the loss of her unborn child because of an abortion pill she took following the orders of the local administration upon her arrival in Tarifa. By adopting this strategy, Obexer creates two effects: she draws a more complex psychological profile of her protagonist who is slowly driven to the brink of mental illness and consequently, this shift provokes blind spots and uncertainties within a narrative that is expected and organised chronologically by the analepsis at the very beginning. Furthermore, the alternating forms of narration seem still to contain a trace of their former use in the audioinstallation. At least, the text invites a certain type of staging or “ mise en voix ” . Nevertheless, what keeps Helen going, despite all the suffering that she describes or circumscribes in her letters, is her bright and shiny EU-topia. Besides, I do not want to stay in Spain, I already told you if you remember, I will maybe go to Italy but not to Rome, I rather prefer Milan or Bologna. Maybe I will much further to the North, to Germany or Norway. We will see where I like it the most. It depends also on what they can offer to me and what kind of University I will choose. [. . .] But I can not predict the things yet. I also find Switzerland quite interesting, I heard a lot of good things about Belgium. Or the Netherlands [. . .] To Amsterdam, for instance. Just the name is beautiful. 22 In the eyes of Helen, the European topography is dislocated, reduced to some Western European countries and metropoles like 191 “ Leaving and Remaining ” - The Staging of Europe in the Work of Maxi Obexer Paris. 23 The life that she imagines within this supposedly open-minded Europe is based on the representations of a society of abundance that appear in the movies, television broadcasts and advertisements: Dear parents, dear Victor, Pat, I can see Europe, I can even smell it, I see the lights of Europe, those are the lights of an esplanade, people with ice cream in their hands walking around under the street lights. They are sitting around in cafés, drinking fresh -made lemonade, white wine, sparkling wine or champagne. I see them hanging around on the stairs in front of a museum, also on those in front of the university, they read newspapers and books, they discuss, laugh, smoke cigarettes, they catch the bus, they wave to each other, taxis honk, the tramway jingles, just an ordinary day in Europe. Your Helen. 24 Helen becomes the victim of her own desires and projections in which “ Europe ” becomes a cipher for the Promised Land. The sacralisation is necessary in order to survive the martyrdom. That is the profound sense of the parallelism at the end of the prayer given by the preacher Isaac in the Moroccan ghettos: “ Nobody will succeed to take away from you what you are dreaming about, what you have a right to, what you are fighting for! It is only you that count! You and God! You and Europe ” ! 25 The journey to Europe becomes a kind of personal salvation story which, in the case of Helen, even leads to epiphany-like hallucinations when she starts to see guardian angels. The constant suffering from her martyrdom provokes a slight change in Helen ’ s mind. She starts to distinguish between her ideal “ Europe ” and the Europeans - especially white men that “ crush us with their meaty male bodies when they lay down on us ” . 26 The contrast between the ideal and her experience of Europe gets more and more difficult to bear for Helen. Once arrived on the so-called old continent, her belief in Europe dies with her child. She slowly realises that, despite all efforts, she will not be able to escape her origins. This is a destiny that Tabita, her inmate in the Spanish refugee camp, resumes quite well: “ Stop pretending. We are here in Africa! In AFRICA! Do you understand! AFRICA! Even though it calls itself Europe. Nobody among us imagined the things like this but it is true. Those who really look at it, they see AFRICA ” ! 27 Helen finally resists the pain of her loss and escapes from the Spanish hospital. Thanks to illegal help, she makes her way to Germany. Finally, at her goal Helen suffers a nervous breakdown in the home for asylum seekers and ends her journey in psychiatric treatment. Remaining Traces of Migration Despite all the cruelty of Helen ’ s experience, it has an universal dimension shared by all migrants, namely, an indelible trace of their journey. Those traces are in the centre of Obexer ’ s latest work, that is to say the novelessay Europas längster Sommer and the documentary-based play Gehen und Bleiben. While the novel moves in the direction of autobiographically marked prose, with Gehen und Bleiben, Obexer establishes her dramatic work at the Hans-Otto-Theater in Potsdam. The period of creation, the topics and the material for both texts are to a certain extent interlaced - once again a sign of the ongoing writing process in this author ’ s work. The novel reflects on the multidimensional migration of the female first person narrator. On her journey from Brixen to Berlin, the protagonist witnesses the illegal border crossing of five men with whom she shares a train compartment. Starting from this rather short parenthesis within the narrative, one follows the narrator through different episodes of her life that she begins to understand as an experience of migration: the removal from Brixen to Berlin, her 192 Karsten Forbrig coming out, as well as historical events like the fall of the Berlin Wall or the Balkan Wars. Among those episodes, the one about the self-experiment concerning the change of citizenship that is the most instructive. By imposing this administrative process upon herself, the female narrator is, for instance, confronted to the different standards of treatment that the refugees have to accept depending on their origin. The willingly chosen position of an implied observer gives the protagonist the occasion to reflect on her own identity: Tyrolese? Italian? German? European? Does “ Freizügigkeit ” 28 really signify “ freedom of movement ” ? When and where does a migration movement start? Is it the removal from the north to the south of Germany? Is it the famous “ Rübermachen ” , the escape movement from East to West Germany that Obexer is often confronted with in Berlin? Do we have to cross borders in order to be a legitimate migrant? And if so what kind of borders? The observation is quite disillusioning: “ The people here call themselves European - or at least they would like to call themselves this way. But still they only recognize Europe because of its borders. Not because of Europe ” . 29 This dichotomy of form and content, appearance and substance, the administrative construction of Europe and the lived cultural reality is constantly perceptible. It is this gap between the humanist ideal and the daily routine that Helen already experienced in Wenn gefährliche Hunde lachen. As if Europe needed the migrants to save the European ideal, to remind the Europeans of their privileges and responsibilities. Instead, the protagonist has to accept the dehumanising categorisation in front of the “ Ausländereinwohnermeldeamt ” - the “ residents ’ registration office for foreigners ” - in the middle of an industrial zone in the outskirts of Berlin. In the eyes of the narrator, Europe seems to have forgotten its values and principles. It has lost its utopian potential: Europe constantly offers the possibility of its betrayal. It is strategically abused for political reasons. It is mounted to be overthrown at once. Discovered to be undermined at once. [. . .] It is also a seismograph for the future development of Europe. A unified country or a Europe of the Nations. A Europe of the Nations will not exist for long time; Nations do not need Europe. At the latest they will not need it anymore once they rearmed and transformed themselves in nationalist fortresses thanks to neoliberal politics in the EU. 30 It is, however, not that difficult to resist this kind of interpretation. To transcend the outer form, the border, and head to the content, the interpersonal praxis since “ it is not because the world is subdivided by frontiers that the human beings are moving within it but because it is a world ” . 31 Elsewhere the protagonist adds: “ Europe starts where the movements of migration begin to be perceivable, where they become a part of the common narratives and where they form the fundament for new self-conception ” . 32 Following this basic precept, the female narrator starts to design her own “ Europe ” which is comprised of all the encounters and stories that she has heard. Every human being, every anecdote is opening a space of imagination, a trace that is giving new outlines to the concept “ Europe ” . The mental map that results from this reinvention of the European continent largely exceeds the territorial boundaries. Her Europe ranges from the American East Coast to India, from Rwanda to the Baltic Sea. At the end of Gehen und Bleiben a similar mental map is drawn by Sharon from Israel. By doing so, the young woman invites the audience to question their own lives about experiences of migration and to contribute to the project of a new modelling, a new spatial organisation without any borderlines: Let us take this stage for a world map. Here is the Middle East, over there is North-Africa 193 “ Leaving and Remaining ” - The Staging of Europe in the Work of Maxi Obexer and over here is Europe. There you can find America and on the other side is Asia. And somewhere over there in the last row you can find Australia. You can imagine all the different ways that link those continents, countries, cities, villages, streets one to another, connected by moving people. Moving in one direction or another. 33 Prior to this “ reinvention ” of the world, the spectator gets to know to 12 migrants from Syria, Israel, France, Russia, Macedonia and Iran who all agreed to take part in the theatre-experiment conducted by Clemens Bechtel and Maxi Obexer. They are all nonprofessionals. They agreed to share their personal experience and to develop a theatrical performance out of their testimonies. But as to Obexer, they tried to avoid the typical effects of spectacularization and exploitation of personal misery: We absolutely wanted to avoid that the evening turns into a kind of human freak-show where the refugees are practically exposed. Following the motto: they experienced something extraordinary that we can watch at. We did not want to look for a rather sensational refugee stories. The media are full of them. But that is not the way of the theatre, not our way. I immediately proposed to call the project Leaving and Remaining and by doing so to place the focus of the play on the opposite of the stereotypical refugee reports. 34 The question of theatrical genre was of no interest for the author as she affirmed in an interview with Lena Schneider: “ In Germany we care too much about a strict separation between the documentary theatre and other forms of theatre. Behind every play there is research. An author cannot create something exclusively out of itself ” . 35 Nevertheless the staging is clearly based on techniques of the documentary theatre but the material is not just “ transcripted ” on stage. Moreover, Obexer and Bechtel work with their sources - performer and text - to obtain their semifictional play. The distancing effect results at the first sight only from the mix of media or technical means like microphones on rather minimalist staging. The audio-loops of testimonies call to mind the other artistic approaches of Obexer. They are melded with traditional and pop songs of Rammstein 36 or Francis Cabrel performed by the actors - an artistic technique well-known from the work of Falk Richter, among others. To shape what one could call the “ authenticity trap ” Bechtel and Obexer install a second layer of distancing by mixing the stories and role distribution. The amateur actors can therefore not just keep a certain level of intimacy but can also develop stronger cohesion within the group. In this play, as in the novel being simultaneously written, Obexer values the interpersonal relations as the decisive vector, not the border, nor the passport. Therefore, Gehen und Bleiben could be just as well read as a chapter of the novel. Therefore, every little episode of this “ longest European summer ” stages Europe - and maybe needs to be staged. Conclusion Given the more than a dozen texts about oppression, exploitation, resistance, historical and political responsibility, texts about migration, and texts about Europe, one can clearly demonstrate that the texts of Maxi Obexer contest and are, of course, contestable. This was the case at the occasion of her 2017 lecture for the Ingeborg Bachmann Award. Hubert Winkels, president of the jury, accused her, for example, of socioliberal conformism, of a stereotypical condemnation of Europe, of too much emphasis and a dubious observer position that makes her benefit from her literary material. This was rather harsh criticism. If one takes a closer look on the literary and theatrical work of 194 Karsten Forbrig the Berliner-by-choice it becomes obvious that the novel presented for the competition follows a logic and coherent development in her writing process that is as to say consubstantial with a critical reflection on the concepts of “ identity ” , “ migration ” and “ Europe ” . Her texts evolve from a rather introspective voice towards an engaged writing that wants to speak out loud for the voiceless but does not pretend to usurpation. Furthermore, her writing or staging strategies seem to set the stage for others. As the example of Das Geisterschiff has shown, one can also state that Maxi Obexer is aware of the difficult moral questions that the arts are confronted with in the context of the migration crisis. Finally, her accusations may be stereotypical in terms of something that has become “ common sense ” but it does not make them less documented nor less necessary in the actual political context. What appears as a condemnation is a requirement, a requirement for a “ Europe ” that defines itself by his content and not his borders. Notes 1 Maxi Obexer, Europas längster Sommer, Berlin 2017. 2 Maxi Obexer, Das Herz eines Bastards. Erzählungen, Athesia, Bozen 2002. Personal translation. The heart of a bastard. 3 Personal translation. The wordless. 4 The translation has been kindly provided by the author herself. It was created in order to perform the play for an English-speaking audience. It has not yet been edited or published. Maxi Obexer, The Ghost Ship, trad. Marlene Norst, p. 9. 5 Maxi Obexer, Das Geisterschiff, Stuttgart 2005. 6 Obexer rejects deliberately on any kind of genre or categorisation, ibid., p. 1. 7 Ibid., p. 4. 8 Ibid., p. 9. 9 Maxi Obexer, The Ghost Ship, p. 1. 10 Maxi Obexer, Die Fliegenden Holländer, Köln 2015. 11 Maxi Obexer, Illegale Helfer, Köln 2016. The text won the Eurodram-Award 2016 as well as the Geisendörfer-Prize 2016. 12 The subdivision of the play is made in the following order: Journalists at Portoceleste (a), the female curator on her way to Portoceleste (b), the two cruise ship passengers on their way to the forum (c), (a/ b/ c/ a/ c/ a/ c/ b/ a/ c/ a/ c/ a/ b/ a/ c/ a/ c/ a/ b/ c/ a). 13 Maxi Obexer, The Ghost Ship, p. 31. 14 Ibid., p. 40. 15 Ibid., p. 42. 16 Ibid., p. 45. 17 Ibid., pp. 9 - 10. 18 Ibid., p. 28. 19 Ibid., p. 48. 20 Ibid., p. 62. 21 Maxi Obexer, Wenn gefährliche Hunde lachen, Wien 2011. Personal translation. When dangerous dogs laugh out loud. 22 “ Außerdem will ich nicht in Spanien bleiben, das habe ich schon mal gesagt, wenn du dich erinnerst, vielleicht geh ich nach Italien, aber nicht nach Rom, eher nach Mailand oder Bologna. Oder überhaupt viel weiter in den Norden, nach Deutschland oder Norwegen. Es wird sich zeigen, wo es mir besser gefällt. Hängt ja auch davon ab, was sie mir bieten können und welche Universität mir am Ende gefällt. [. . .] Aber so genau kann ich das noch nicht sagen. Ich finde ja auch die Schweiz nicht uninteressant, von Belgien habe ich auch schon Gutes gehört. Oder Holland. [. . .] Nach Amsterdam zum Beispiel. Schon der Name ist schön ” . Obexer, Wenn gefährliche Hunde lachen, pp. 47 - 48. Personal translation. 23 “ Einige von ihnen kennen Paris in- und auswendig, die spazieren darin herum, sie haben sich Stadtkarten organisiert und sich Bilder aus dem Internet geholt, die können dir jeden Platz in Paris beschreiben, auch Barcelona und Rom, hier sind alle europäischen Städte vertreten, zumindest in ihrer Phantasie, so wie sich fast alle afrikanischen Länder hier finden lassen ” . Obexer, Wenn gefährliche Hunde lachen, p. 12. 195 “ Leaving and Remaining ” - The Staging of Europe in the Work of Maxi Obexer 24 “ Liebe Eltern, lieber Victor, Pat, ich sehe Europa, ich kann es sogar riechen, ich sehe die Lichter Europas, es sind die Lichter einer Hafenpromenade, die Straßenlaternen, unter denen die Menschen entlanglaufen, mit einem Eis in der Hand. Sie sitzen in Cafés auf den Plätzen, sie trinken frisch gepresste Limonade, sie trinken Weißwein, Sekt und auch Champagner. Ich sehe sie auf den Treppen von Museen herumlungern, auch auf denen der Universität, sie lesen Zeitungen und in Büchern, sie unterhalten sich, lachen, rauchen Zigaretten, sie springen in den Bus, winken sich zu, Taxifahrer hupen, eine Straßenbahn bimmelt, ein ganz gewöhnlicher Tag in Europa. Eure Helen ” . Obexer, Wenn gefährliche Hunde lachen, p. 34. Personal translation. 25 “ Keinem wird es gelingen, euch zu nehmen, wovon ihr träumt, worauf ihr Anspruch habt, wofür ihr kämpft! Nur ihr selbst zählt! Ihr und Gott! Ihr und Europa ” ! Obexer, Wenn gefährliche Hunde lachen, p. 63. Personal translation. 26 “ [. . .] niederdrücken, wenn sie sich mit ihren fleischigen Männergewichten auf uns legen ” . Obexer, Wenn gefährliche Hunde lachen, p. 96. Personal translation. 27 “ Hör auf, dir etwas vorzumachen. Wir sind hier in Afrika! In AFRIKA! Verstehst du! AFRIKA! Auch wenn es sich Europa nennt. Das hat sich zwar niemand von uns so vorgestellt, aber es ist so. Wer hinschaut, sieht hier AFRIKA ” ! Obexer, Wenn gefährliche Hunde lachen, p. 116. Personal translation. 28 The german term “ Freizügigkeit ” refers on the one hand to the freedom of mouvement but signifies on the other hand a kind of libertinage or sexually explicit behaviour or the ignorance of certain moral standards. Obexer, Europas längster Sommer, p. 12. 29 “ Die Menschen hier nennen sich Europäer - oder würden sich gern so nennen. Noch erkennen sie Europa an seinen Grenzen. Nicht an Europa ” . Obexer, Europas längster Sommer, 2017, p. 7. Personal translation. 30 “ Europa bietet stets die Möglichkeit, es zu verraten. Es wird startegisch benutzt und machtpolitisch missbraucht. Es wird bestiegen, um es zu Fall zu bringen. Oder ausgegraben, um es zu untergraben. [. . .] Es ist heute auch ein Seismograph dafür, in welche Richtung sich Europa ziehen lässt. In ein gemeinsames Land oder in ein Europa der Nationalstaaten. Ein Europa der Nationalstaaten wird es nicht lange geben; Nationalstaaten benötigen kein Europa. Sie benötigen es spätestens dann nicht mehr, wenn sie sich dank der neoliberalen Wirtschaftspolitik der EU zu neuen nationalistischen Festungen aufrüsten konnten ” . Obexer, Europas längster Sommer, p. 51. Personal translation. 31 “ [n]icht der Umstand, dass die Welt in Grenzen aufgeteilt ist, lässt die Menschen ziehen, sondern der Umstand dass es eine Welt ist. ” , Obexer, Europas längster Sommer, p. 94. Personal translation. 32 “ Europa beginnt dort zu existieren, wo seine Einwanderungen sichtbar werden, wo sie zum erzählerischen Gemeingut gehören und wo sie zu Europas Selbstverständnis werden ” , Obexer, Europas längster Sommer, p. 84. Personal translation. 33 “ Nehmen wir diese Bühne als eine große Weltkarte. Hier ist der Mittlere Osten, dort Nordafrika und hier ist Europa. Dort drüben findest du Amerika und auf der anderen Seite Asien. Und irgendwo dort in der letzten Reihe ist Australien. Du kannst dir vorstellen, auf wie viele Arten diese Kontinente, Länder, Städte, Dörfer, Straßen miteinander verbunden sind durch die Menschen, die umherziehen. In eine Richtung oder beide ” . Obexer, Gehen und Bleiben, Spielfassung Hans-Otto-Theater Potsdam, Köln, 2017, p. 36. Personal translation. 34 “ Es war uns wichtig zu vermeiden, dass der Abend so eine Art Menschenschau wird, bei der Geflüchtete quasi ausgestellt werden, nach dem Motto: Die haben da etwas Besonderes erlebt, wo wir nun draufglotzen können. Und dann fahndet man nach besonders spektakulären, sensationellen Fluchtgeschichten. Davon sind ja die Medien bereits voll. Aber das ist nicht der Weg des Theaters, nicht unser Weg. Ich habe also gleich vorgeschlagen, das Projekt Gehen und Bleiben zu nennen und so eine thematische Fokussierung jenseits der üblichen Flucht- 196 Karsten Forbrig berichterstattung vorzunehmen ” . Obexer im Gespräch mit Christopher Hanf, Das Theatermagazin 37, 2017. Personal translation. 35 “ In Deutschland wird ohnehin viel zu sehr an dieser strengen Unterscheidung zwischen Dokumentartheater und anderem Theater festgehalten. Hinter jedem Stück steht eine Recherche. Man kann als Autor nie nur aus sich selbst schöpfen. ” , Lena Schneider, “ Die Sprachkanoniere ” , Potsdamer Neueste Nachrichten, 13. 03. 2017. https: / / www.pnn.de/ kultur/ gehen-und-bleiben-am-hans-ottotheater-potsdam-die-sprachkanoniere/ 2136 0892.html [accessed 30 August 2019]. Personal translation. 36 Obexer, Gehen und Bleiben, pp. 21 - 22. 197 “ Leaving and Remaining ” - The Staging of Europe in the Work of Maxi Obexer