A classic of European theatre, Thomas Bernhard’s The President is having its spectacular Australian premiere in this historic collaboration between Sydney Theatre Company and Gate Theatre, Dublin. Get an insight into this complex and boldly inventive play with these reflections on the play’s conception and themes.
A Towering Austrian Playwright
Thomas Bernhard (1931 – 1989) is considered one of the most important writers of the twentieth century and has received wide critical acclaim. During his lifetime, he wrote more than 20 plays and 16 novels and novellas. He is famous for fearlessly critiquing Austrian society, which he believed was using silence around its participation in the Holocaust to attempt to distance itself from the devastation of WWII.
His work draws comparisons with Samuel Beckett, Albert Camus and Franz Kafka, but Bernhard is a distinctly original writer. His innovations of the theatrical form are so unique that his writing style has been given its own adjective; ‘Bernhardian’. His use of rhythmic repetition – of words and phrases – means themes of social decay, personal failure, and political complacency, are not just expressed in the content of the play but woven into the fabric of the play’s language. Each time Bernhard returns to the same sentence, its truth and meaning are questioned.
In 1970, Bernhard was recognised for his body of work, winning the most significant German language literature prize, the Georg Büchner Prize.
A Play in Four Monologues
For a play titled The President, audiences may be surprised to learn the titular character only emerges near the end of the first Act. Even then, his dialogue is limited to small interjections between monologues delivered by The First Lady. It isn’t until after the interval that he is truly given the reins.
Rather than let the President introduce himself, Bernhard uses a long monologue by his wife to paint his portrait. The First Lady gives us her perspective on the ‘great man’ – a perspective very different from the one he presents to his public and to his enemies: "he is very scared... but doesn’t show it”. As she does this all we hear from the President is his bath water splashing, his heaving laughter, and his moaning and groaning as he receives a massage.
By waiting until much later in the play to introduce us to The President himself, Bernhard wants the audience to encounter him through this ‘behind-the-scenes' lens. We see him, not as an imposing and unimpeachable dictator, but as a powerful man being confronted with his own downfall. When we meet the President and he begins his own rambling monologue, we understand he is on the verge of losing everything, a figure of both tragedy and comedy. Encountering him at this point, we can’t be fooled by the brave/grandiose face he puts on things.
Europe is Crisis
Writing in post-World War II Europe, Bernhard was extremely familiar with the kind of political climate The President is set in. He also knew the decay of a political system and the resulting chaos would be the lived experience of his play’s first audiences. Cruelty anarchy, and terror are at the center of The President, and they were also a reality in the lives of those in the Burgtheater in Vienna, when this play took the stage for the first time.
The President opened following a spate of political assassination in Western Europe. The Red Army Faction, a German militant group, who committed politically motivated robberies, assassinations and bombings were on trial as the play premiered.
While Bernhard was unafraid to directly critique his Austrian homeland, he chose not to specify the setting of The President. Instead, its setting is kept ambiguous, suggesting Bernhard intended to capture a growing unease that stretched across the continent.