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arirang's review
5.0
In June-September 2019, Dundee Contemporary Arts staged a major video installation and series of sculptural works from artist Patrick Staff reinterpreting the Heinrich von Kleist's 19th century play [b:The Prince of Homburg|951353|The Prince of Homburg|Heinrich von Kleist|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1354902614l/951353._SY75_.jpg|936272] - see https://www.dca.org.uk/whats-on/event/patrick-staff and https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2&v=EG9Eh3YQFgY
As part of this they commissioned this chapbook, containing two experimental texts, one from the recently Goldsmith's shortlisted Isabel Waidner, and another from Johanna Hedva. Hedva’s text is an astrological reading based around the joint suicide of Heinrich von Kleist and Henriette Vogel in 1811.
Waidner's contribution is an experimental play, set in Stratford in 1996, entwined with a commentary on the original text (which stages a moral-philsophical dilemma interesting to Prussian white-men circa 1810 only.)
This enables Waidner to explore one of the key themes from their [b:We Are Made Of Diamond Stuff|43703179|We Are Made Of Diamond Stuff|Isabel Waidner|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1548426788l/43703179._SY75_.jpg|68005993], namely the exclusionary nature of so-called canonical literature. Whereas Diamond Stuff focused on the normativity and exclusivity even of avante-garde experimental fiction, here the focus in on more classic texts.
I don’t see how the ideas in Kleist’s play can usefully be put to work unless your protagonist is literally a prince, or a middle-class neo-liberal subject living the fever dream of autonomous selfhood ... authority as opposed to free-will barely applies in the queer working class milieu of Stratford, East London, ‘96. Choice per se - barely applies.
...
All great works of literature’s are seen to stage or represent universal ‘truths’. Actually, most of literature’s so-called truths barely apply beyond their very specific historical settings, conditions of emergence, and rootedness in basically royal or neoliberal privilege, implicitly or explicitly. They are 100% relatable - to a middle-class readership only.
Although Waidner does succeed spectacularly in their mission of repurposing the Prince of Homburg. The play is short (15 pages) and I won't spoil all the fun, but one example is their eponymous character pondering whether to tone down their dress sense in response to homophobic threats:
Can’t you dress down, you’re literally asking for it. The pink hoodie wt the integrated gold necklace and baby padlock - the shiny horse - isn’t blending in, is it. The plastic bead bracelet, come on, is like advertising das queer. The PRINCE OF HOMBURG lies on their bed, feels their precious bracelet, and decided to ignore the voice of reason, fk it. Fk it! There is no lying low and blending in. Look at the boy from the call centre who dresses like a National Trust volunteer - he’ll never be part of anything like the royal entourage, plus he gets beat anyway (gay look on his face).
If anything the PRINCE OF HOMBURG decides they will ramp it up. Fighting talk.
the horse on the padlock linking to one in the original play:
In ACT 2 SCENE 7 of Kleist’s play, the ELECTOR’s blingy white horse attract enemy attention a mile off. No wonder that whoever finds themselves riding the horse into battle should be the first to go down. Naturally, the ELECTOR delegates the honour to a common soldier -
Readers of Waidner's past work will not be surprised that the tiny horse on the chain doesn't stay tiny, or indeed on the chain.
And the play demands to be read for the way Waidner brilliantly repurposes a key imperial symbol, the coat of arms of the Kingdom of Prussia to their purposes (it fulfils, surpasses even, its gay potential):
Recommended.
As part of this they commissioned this chapbook, containing two experimental texts, one from the recently Goldsmith's shortlisted Isabel Waidner, and another from Johanna Hedva. Hedva’s text is an astrological reading based around the joint suicide of Heinrich von Kleist and Henriette Vogel in 1811.
Waidner's contribution is an experimental play, set in Stratford in 1996, entwined with a commentary on the original text (which stages a moral-philsophical dilemma interesting to Prussian white-men circa 1810 only.)
This enables Waidner to explore one of the key themes from their [b:We Are Made Of Diamond Stuff|43703179|We Are Made Of Diamond Stuff|Isabel Waidner|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1548426788l/43703179._SY75_.jpg|68005993], namely the exclusionary nature of so-called canonical literature. Whereas Diamond Stuff focused on the normativity and exclusivity even of avante-garde experimental fiction, here the focus in on more classic texts.
I don’t see how the ideas in Kleist’s play can usefully be put to work unless your protagonist is literally a prince, or a middle-class neo-liberal subject living the fever dream of autonomous selfhood ... authority as opposed to free-will barely applies in the queer working class milieu of Stratford, East London, ‘96. Choice per se - barely applies.
...
All great works of literature’s are seen to stage or represent universal ‘truths’. Actually, most of literature’s so-called truths barely apply beyond their very specific historical settings, conditions of emergence, and rootedness in basically royal or neoliberal privilege, implicitly or explicitly. They are 100% relatable - to a middle-class readership only.
Although Waidner does succeed spectacularly in their mission of repurposing the Prince of Homburg. The play is short (15 pages) and I won't spoil all the fun, but one example is their eponymous character pondering whether to tone down their dress sense in response to homophobic threats:
Can’t you dress down, you’re literally asking for it. The pink hoodie wt the integrated gold necklace and baby padlock - the shiny horse - isn’t blending in, is it. The plastic bead bracelet, come on, is like advertising das queer. The PRINCE OF HOMBURG lies on their bed, feels their precious bracelet, and decided to ignore the voice of reason, fk it. Fk it! There is no lying low and blending in. Look at the boy from the call centre who dresses like a National Trust volunteer - he’ll never be part of anything like the royal entourage, plus he gets beat anyway (gay look on his face).
If anything the PRINCE OF HOMBURG decides they will ramp it up. Fighting talk.
the horse on the padlock linking to one in the original play:
In ACT 2 SCENE 7 of Kleist’s play, the ELECTOR’s blingy white horse attract enemy attention a mile off. No wonder that whoever finds themselves riding the horse into battle should be the first to go down. Naturally, the ELECTOR delegates the honour to a common soldier -
Readers of Waidner's past work will not be surprised that the tiny horse on the chain doesn't stay tiny, or indeed on the chain.
And the play demands to be read for the way Waidner brilliantly repurposes a key imperial symbol, the coat of arms of the Kingdom of Prussia to their purposes (it fulfils, surpasses even, its gay potential):
Recommended.
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