“Leopoldštate” tells the story of a family’s survival through the greatest human disasters of the 20th century. The description of the show says: “We will follow the family until 1955, when only three of the large family will be left alive. We, the audience, know what this family will have to experience, but they look forward to the next century with hope: “I think the time has come 20th century, but centuries are not repeating seasons. By the rivers of Babel we wept, but that time has passed, as has everything that followed – deportations, massacres, burnings, blood libels, like the Middle Ages are gone – riots, ghettos, yellow signs… All this has been rolled up and thrown away like an old carpet , because Europe is moving forward.””
Daira Āboliņa: “Leopoldštate” is a great play by Tom Stoppard. Why is it important for you as a director to work with the subject of the Holocaust today?
John Malkovich: I probably don’t think in such a short term – about what is important today or not important today. I’m more interested in stories that I like to tell, that I think are interesting stories. I have always been fascinated by Vienna, and the Holocaust is part of the history of Austria and Vienna, a very tragic part. Obviously I like Tom Stoppard as a writer and I really like this play. I think it’s always worth being reminded of what people are capable of – wonderful things and not so wonderful things.
Do you see this play as political?
Not particularly. This play tells the story of this particular family, of quite a few people in this family.
It tells of their childhood, their youth, their adulthood, and their end. I wouldn’t say it’s particularly political. It is historical, but not political.
Why did you decide to stage this play in Latvia, with Latvian actors?
Juris Žagars asked me if I would be interested in staging a play here. We talked about several plays, but he was most excited about the possibility of “Leopoldstadt” being staged. And since I have spent a lot of time in Vienna, I have worked there several times, read about the history of Vienna, experienced its culture, this play was made for me to stage it.
The characters of the play ask difficult questions to each other, and the play also asks these questions to the audience – why did the Holocaust happen, why did it happen to the Jews? Do you have an answer to these questions?
Not really. It’s a big mystery to me too – I’m not Jewish.
It is so barbaric, so inhuman, so insanely cruel that it takes a strain of the imagination to imagine that people were capable of what they did.
Critics have noticed that the play is characterized by a symbiosis of tragedy and comedy. Have you tried to keep both of these elements in your production?
To me – and this comes largely from Jewish culture – tragedy is comedy, seen from another angle. In other words, it’s a tragedy if it happens to me, but it’s a comedy if it happens to you. I think the two are somewhat inseparable. Of course, there are examples where there is only tragedy or only comedy. But in my mind the two coexist quite simply and quite easily. And I love comedy, so I definitely wouldn’t put anything funny out there if it was up to me.
John Malkovich
Photo: LETA, Paula Čurkste
Do you plan to return to Latvia in the future, work with Latvian artists?
I’m supposed to be back in November for The Music Critic, but it depends on whether I can travel after my recent eye surgery.
What is your impression of Latvia after you have worked here for a while? You could work anywhere in the world, why choose Latvia?
I came here for the first time in January of last year, for the rehearsals of the play that Ingeborga Dapkūnaiti and I played in the Daile Theater and which we still perform (“In the loneliness of the cotton fields” – ed.). I liked it here. Of course, I can work in Paris, London, Mexico City or Moscow, and I have worked in all these cities, but they are not the only places in the world that interest me. I work everywhere, really.
How was your time here?
A magical time. Great cast. I really enjoy looking at them.
It was a real pleasure to work on it.
“Leopoldstadt” – a play about family survival and strength4 min
2023-09-13 11:30:16
#John #Malkovich #tragedy #comedy #insane #cruelty #conversation #premiere #Leopoldstadt
