Our Town’s Reach Across Space & Time
Eighty-two years ago, on February 4, 1938, Thornton Wilder's Our Town opened successfully on Broadway and soon throughout the world.
To mark this birthday, we share two reminders of Our Town’s reach across space and time, from post-war Germany to modern Czech Republic.
1945
"For the past twelve years our world has been nailed shut..."
In winter 1945, mere months after the surrender of Nazi Germany on May 7, Our Town was produced at the Münchner Kammerspiele im Schauspielhaus. Shown here is what may be the earliest surviving Our Town playbill from the liberated Germany of this period--a production in the all but destroyed Munich--together with a translation of the program note.
Translation of program note for Our Town in Munich Studio Theatre at the Schauspielhaus, winter 1945
Thornton Wilder is one of the most seminal dramatists of 20th century America and "Our Town" is one of the most substantial creations of contemporary American theater. This play illuminates everyday life in an American town without concentrating on specific problems. For the past twelve years our world has been nailed shut by crossbeams capable of being smashed only by the largest, heaviest tanks. Now after war’s end we can finally see beyond our boundaries into the free world far across the ocean. This drama erases unnatural barriers for those who live in their astonishingly natural, unimpeded, and above all unencumbered lifestyle. There are scenes between father and son, between husband and wife, and among neighbors. There is a pattern of relaxed upbringing free from pretentious authoritarianism and we are astonished by the feelings of communal, humane openness toward one’s neighbor, above all by a modest courage to be. Any one of these scenes justifies a play.
We are also astonished to see how not only the small, uneven places on the surface of life, but also the surface of life itself are overcome. The fundamental categories of time and space, two basic characteristics of reality and its image, no longer restrain us. Scenes that ordinarily are shown only on film, are now on stage where completely new possibilities greet the eye and ear: in the corner, a Speaker listens to a scene of another actor, uninterrupted as though reading a book out loud, simultaneously performing with the other actors sitting or standing on a variety of places on stage, in the present “wringing of hands”, in the past “looking back”, or rushing into the future and so on and so forth. For this play, scenery and props are transparent and unnecessary, just as scenery and props are unnecessary for essential life. This does not mean, however, that from now on there will be no sets or props used on the stage. Only one exception can be whole and healthy – precisely in order to rescue us from the dullness of everyday life. In this play, the dramatist tries to create the world of things anew in a pure, creative, malleable, painter-like way: the large and the very small things, recreated in their original forms.
W.P.
2020
It is different story today in Opava, Czech Republic where Our Town is currently running in repertory in the Sleske Divadlo (Silesian Theatre). We’ve just received their production artwork and are delighted to share it with you.
