THE FEAR AND THE WAR

For this production, director Zurab Nanobashvili chose two large plays - "Fear and Poverty in the Third Empire" and "Schweik in World War II", combining them into a single composition with the help of through characters - Hitler and the choir. Together with the Brecht Fuhrer, the director is interested in "what are the feelings of a little man" in a totalitarian state, in an oppressive atmosphere of fear of each other, under the full control of the authorities; what are the real thoughts of the "little man" hidden behind a stream of enthusiastic speeches.

In the first part of the play, the action of which takes place "in the paternal bosom" in Germany, the main theme becomes the lack of will, suspiciousness and intimidation of outwardly prosperous Germans. A person is afraid of a person, regardless of the degree of kinship and proximity, position, nationality, because anyone can have a "chalk cross" on their back - in fact, the mark of a suicide bomber. The oppressed and disunited heroes of the first part of the play are not capable of acting and cannot oppose anything to the system.

In the second act, when the figure of Hašek's Schweik appears, the tone of the narrative changes dramatically from tragic to satirical. In essence, the brave soldier Schweik is the same type of "little man" as in the first part of the play. However, Schweik, standing as if outside the totalitarian system, but observing it, has a real way of fighting the regime. A modern viewer will call his behavior "trolling" - bullying, incitement, sometimes aggressive escalation of conflict.