Germany: Stagestruck

Heiner Muller was once without full recognition in his own country. The East German playwright had a festival of his works this month in Frankfurt, and has been praised by international audiences for plays like Hamletmaschine and Quartett. It’s only now that his dramas, pointedly dealing with the theme of revolution betrayed, are being staged at home. If Muller, 61, were to dramatize the end of the Communist regime in East Berlin, he says, “it would be a tragedy about incompetence and stupidity.” He adds that many figures in recent history wouldn’t make strong fictional characters. One exception: Lenin.