ENTER LUDHER

On Sundays afternoon Johann whiles away his time organising a family reunion in his country house at Erfurt. Household and visitors are given a role in his long developing drama about his hero, Luther, whom he discovered after his come-back to religion. His son, Martinus, and friend Katharina indulge in a dialogue with Johann before rushing off to more private entertainment. They would later make a forced return after a traffic accident in the countryside. Johann’s brother, Friedrich, visits with girl-friend Theresa, while Cornelia, who assumes more than a maid’s role, spends her time in a constant flutter, seemingly attending to all and prying over everybody’s affairs. She also faithfully executes anything Johann bids her do with his mother Greta.

While the Ludher drama intermittently takes place on a platforrn stage, action is intertwined with self-revealing dialogues between the characters. Their personal history emerges on two main levels. On the inter-personal level, characters are haunted by their past bonds to each other, even if unwittingly. On a psychological level, each character discovers that there are subliminal forces in one’s mind jerking to erupt and show one’s distorted real self like in a magic mirror.

Cornelia speaks out her mind with Theresa on the lucidity of the household members, Johann queries Theresa about Katharina’s murmurings while driving her back home after the accident and Katharina spills the beans before Martinus about a hitherto concealed relationship. When it seems like an all pervading ice-sheet has been cracked, the visiting characters are further down the garden path than the household characters would have them believe.

Friedrich blows the lid off, calling his family a madhouse and intending to move away from Erfurt to Brazil. Soon enough Theresa expectedly loses interest in staying on, much like Katharina after Cornelia breaks down and reveals Greta’s identity. It is evening by now and Martinus, at the end of a hectic afternoon, sends out clear signals that he is a chip of the old block, having somewhat inherited Johann’s insane play-acting.