Teaching History and (Gender) Politics: The Hamletmachine and the Princess Plays

Abstract

This chapter extends the discussion about the politics of pedagogy articulated in the previous chapter with an analysis of student productions of Heiner Müller’s The Hamletmachine and Elfriede Jelinek’s the Princess Plays. As much of a critique of totalitarianism as it is of capitalism, Hamletmachine demands that its actors and audience engage with Cold War history and politics. Drawing on archival videos documenting the production’s rehearsal process, I provide a self-reflexive autoethnographical account of what I have always considered my most successful attempt to teach postdramatic theatre. The chapter juxtaposes The Hamletmachine with a case study of a more recent, and perhaps less successful, student production of Elfriede Jelinek’s Princess Plays, with a particular emphasis on the students’ experience of creating a dramatic context for a postdramatic text.