"Staatsaktionen" between representation and parody

This research project is conceived as a contribution to a theatre and cultural studies-based investigation of German- speaking travelling theatre. Central to the project is a transcription of an unpublished codex consisting of play texts dating from the late 17th century and its analysis within a variety of contexts. A key focus is placed on determining the contribution made by travelling theatre, in particular the specific form of Haupt- und Staatsaktion, to the way in which the absolutist state was staged, entered into discourse and parodied. To what degree is this form of theatre to be understood as a specific mode of social interaction, in which, on the one hand, virulent conceptions of the subject and images of society are mirrored in one another, and, on the other, the potential is present for associated values to be represented as well as mocked? This issue will be explored within the context of other forms of staging and formal visual representations of the state. Conclusions will be drawn from three aspects of the project: a) Firstly, Codex Ia 38589, which is held by the Wienbibliothek, with its 14 play texts amounting to around 600 pages, the extraordinary importance of which has now been recognised, will be transcribed, and published in a study edition accompanied by a commentary. On the one hand, this means that the project will be performing basic research; on the other, it will be giving centrality to a body of material from which questions relating both to subject matter and methodology may be clearly drawn out. b) Secondly, the Haupt- und Staatsaktion will be interpreted within the context of other forms of theatre using a cultural studies approach. To this end, the theatre produced by professional travelling troupes will be understood as a cultural practice contributing to the constitution of reality in ways which evince both affinity and difference with explicit courtly forms of theatre, in that they give visual form to existential questions of subjecthood and elements of societal order in a playful manner and parody them theatrically. Hans Wurst - the character largely responsible for ruptures and shifts in perspective - will be the focus of a cultural studies-oriented theorising of this particular theatre form. c) The third element of the project will explore the travelling troupes` Staatsaktionen in relation to the representation of state order in the form of cultural performances (such as festivities, functions and ceremonies) and the discourses of written culture (political philosophy, ceremonial studies, dance treaties, and so on). The fact that the states staged by the travelling troupes were always perceived to be `theatre`, gives some idea of their ambiguity somewhere between representation and parody.

The existence of early professional theatre troupes in the German-speaking area depended on three types of authorities. Representatives of the absolutist state, the church and the cities influenced the decision (often with contradictory instructions), whether, where and how long stage performances were allowed to take place. Adaptability was therefore the most important tactic employed by the professional players in their struggle for survival. Be that as it may, professional troupes were destined to be a disruptive factor in the clash that resulted from the traditional hostility towards the theatre and the need for representational celebrations and public entertainment. In contrast to the theatre activities of schools in the service of a war of faith and the representational theatre at the courts, the performances of the professional actors remained ambivalent as a reaction to their being denied integration. Despite the adaptability of the individuals, professional stage performances therefore oscillated between the representation of cultural values and their parody.The first aim of the research project was the transcription and publication of a (first) edition of a codex in possession of the Wienbibliothek containing 14 manuscripts of plays from the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. These plays are adaptations of English, Italian, French, Dutch and Latin dramas, translated and arranged for the purposes of troupes establishing a professional theatre in the German-speaking area. The second aim was to explore early professional theatre on the basis of these play texts in terms of cultural history. On the one hand, the interweaving of German troupes with European theatre had to be analysed and described; on the other hand, we focused on these play texts and their staging in the context of different cities. Special attention was given to the comic characters: firstly, because they underwent the most significant changes in the process of cultural translation, and secondly, because the potential for parody stems mainly from them. Our material made it possible to outline the existence of all sorts of European buffoons in German theatre and their step-by-step substitution with Hans Wurst, who became the ambivalent and persecuted symbol of the travelling theatre in German culture later on.A first volume with the commented play texts and an introduction will appear in 2015 under the title Spieltexte der Comdianten. Band 1: Stücke des deutschen Internationaltheaters aus dem Kodex Ia 38.589, edited by Stefan Hulfeld.