Of course, there are always exceptions here and there

My own plays have suffered immensely from too elaborate ornamentation in production. The last time, for “Travel Perhaps” in The Hague, was the worst. The best was at Artistas Unidos for “The Nothing Factory” in Portugal. When I asked the director, Jorge Silva Melo, beforehand what the set would look, he said: “Why, this play is about a nothing factory.” And, sure enough, they only used a bunch of plain chairs. Of course, there are always exceptions here and there. At this point I would like to mention Eberhard Kurn, who died three years ago at a young age. In the small TamS-Theater in Munich, he was able to conjure up such wonderfully poetic, picturesque and imaginative sets that made you forget the stage was only 10 meters wide and 6 meters deep.

Translated into English by Lynnette Polcyn