The Hour We Knew Nothing Of Each Other
Encyclopedia
The Hour We Knew Nothing Of Each Other is a one-act play without words written by Peter Handke
. The play has 450 characters and focuses on a day in the life of an unspecified town square. It was first performed in 1992.
in May 1992, Handke described the idea behind the play:
in 1992. It was first performed in the UK at the Edinburgh Festival
in 1994.
It was produced with a new translation by Meredith Oakes
at the Lyttelton Theatre, National Theatre
, London
, opening on 13 February 2008. The production ran until 12 April. It was directed by James Macdonald with Jonathan Burrows
as associate director and featured the following ensemble cast:
The technical crew were as follows:
In 2009, Tantrum Theatre performed The Hour We Knew Nothing Of Each Other in the open-air of Wheeler Place, Newcastle, Australia
Peter Handke
Peter Handke is an avant-garde Austrian novelist and playwright.-Early life:Handke and his mother lived in the Soviet-occupied Pankow district of Berlin from 1944 to 1948 before resettling in Griffen...
. The play has 450 characters and focuses on a day in the life of an unspecified town square. It was first performed in 1992.
Plot
In an interview with Sigrid Löffler for ProfilProfil (magazine)
profil is an Austrian news magazine. It was founded in 1970 by Oscar Bronner, who also founded the magazine Trend and the daily newspaper Der Standard....
in May 1992, Handke described the idea behind the play:
The trigger for the play was an afternoon several years ago. I'd spent the entire day on a little square in MuggiaMuggiaMuggia is a small Italian comune in the extreme south-east of Trieste lying on the border with Slovenia.Muggia is the last and only flap of Istria still in Italian territory, after the dissolution of the Free Territory of Trieste in 1954....
near TriesteTriesteTrieste is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is situated towards the end of a narrow strip of land lying between the Adriatic Sea and Italy's border with Slovenia, which lies almost immediately south and east of the city...
. I sat on the terrace of a café and watched life pass by. I got into a real state of observation, perhaps this was helped along a bit by the wine. Every little thing became significant (without being symbolic). The tiniest procedures seemed significant of the world. After three or four hours a hearseHearseA hearse is a funerary vehicle used to carry a coffin from a church or funeral home to a cemetery. In the funeral trade, hearses are often called funeral coaches.-History:...
drew up in front of a house, men entered and came out with a coffinCoffinA coffin is a funerary box used in the display and containment of dead people – either for burial or cremation.Contemporary North American English makes a distinction between "coffin", which is generally understood to denote a funerary box having six sides in plan view, and "casket", which...
, onlookers assembled and the dispersed, the hearse drove away. After that the hustle and bustle continued - the milling of tourists, natives and workers. Those who came after this occurrence didn't know what had gone on before. But for me, who had seen it, everything that happened after the incident with the hearse seemed somewhat coloured by it. None of the people on the square knew anything of each other - hence the title. But we,the onlookers see them as sculptures who sculpt each other through what goes on before and after. Only through what comes after does that which has gone before gain contours; and what went on before sculpts what is to come.
Productions
The play was first staged in ViennaVienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
in 1992. It was first performed in the UK at the Edinburgh Festival
Edinburgh Festival
The Edinburgh Festival is a collective term for many arts and cultural festivals that take place in Edinburgh, Scotland each summer, mostly in August...
in 1994.
It was produced with a new translation by Meredith Oakes
Meredith Oakes
Meredith Oakes is an Australian playwright who has lived in London since 1970. She has written plays, adaptations, translations, opera texts and poems, and taught play-writing at Royal Holloway College and for the Arvon Foundation....
at the Lyttelton Theatre, National Theatre
Royal National Theatre
The Royal National Theatre in London is one of the United Kingdom's two most prominent publicly funded theatre companies, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, opening on 13 February 2008. The production ran until 12 April. It was directed by James Macdonald with Jonathan Burrows
Jonathan Burrows
Jonathan Burrows is one of the UK’s leading choreographers. He performs around the world, with 43 international tour dates in 2007.`He started his career as a soloist with The Royal Ballet in London, but formed the Jonathan Burrows Group in 1988 to present his own work.The company travelled widely...
as associate director and featured the following ensemble cast:
- Susan BrownSusan Brown (actress)Susan Brown is a British actress of the stage and screen.-Theatre:She has appeared in numerous theatre productions including: The Wild Duck , Henry IV Parts 1 & 2, Playing with Fire, Cardiff East and The Hour We Knew Nothing Of Each Other, Easter, Romeo and Juliet, Richard III and Bad Weather...
- Jessie BurtonJessie Burton-Career:Before starting her professional career, Burton studied at Oxford University and the Central School of Speech and Drama where she appeared in productions of The House of Bernarda Alba, Othello, Play and Macbeth.-Theatre:...
- Pip CarterPip Carter-Career:Before starting his professional career, Carter trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art where he appeared in productions of The Cosmonaut's Last Message..., Platonov, In The Jungle of Cities, The Good Soldier and Assassins....
- Paul ChestertonPaul ChestertonPaul Chesterton is an English actor based in Surrey.-Personal life:Chesterton was born in Harrow Wealdstone and grew up in South Africa and America .-Career:...
- Lisa DillonLisa DillonLisa Dillon is Critics Circle Award-winning English actress.-Theatre:Whilst training at RADA, Dillon appeared in several training productions, including: Hamlet and The Tempest by William Shakespeare, The Devils by John Whiting, The Devil's Law Case by John Webster, Yentl by Leah Napolin and The...
- Callum DixonCallum Dixon-Theatre:Dixon's work in theatre includes: Market Boy, Sing Yer Heart Out for the Lads, Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead, The Wind in the Willows, The Day I Stood Still, Somewhere, The Recruiting Officer and The Hour We Knew Nothing Of Each Other at the National Theatre, London; The Bright and...
- Noma DumezweniNoma DumezweniNoma Dumezweni is a Laurence Olivier Award-winning English actress based in London.-Personal life:Born in Swaziland, of South African parents, Dumenzweni came to England with her family as a child, first living in Suffolk, where she was educated, before moving to London.-Theatre:Dumezweni's work in...
- Susan EngelSusan EngelSusan Engel is a British actress.-Theatre:Engel's work in theatre includes: Angels in America , Richard III, King Lear , The Good Person of Sezuan, Watch on the Rhine , Spring Awakening, The Hour We Knew Nothing Of Each Other and Her Naked Skin at the National Theatre, London; Women...
- Susannah FieldingSusannah Fielding-Career:Fielding trained at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, graduating in 2007, where she appeared in productions of The Tempest and Tales From Ovid .-Theatre:...
- Mark HadfieldMark HadfieldMark Hadfield is an English actor.Before starting his professional career, Hadfield trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art .-Theatre:...
- Amy HallAmy Hall-Career:Before starting her professional career, Hall took a BA in English Literature at the University of Richmond, Virginia before training and studying for an MA in Performance at Drama Centre, London, graduating in 2006, where she appeared in productions of Tech Screen and The...
- Daniel HawksfordDaniel Hawksford-Career:Before starting his professional career, Hawksford trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art . He is an associate artist for Clwyd Theatr Cymru.-Theatre:...
- Tom Hickey
- Richard HopeRichard Hope (actor)Richard Hope is a British actor.-Career:Born in Kettering and brought up in Norfolk, Mr. Hope attended Oakham School in Rutland from 1967–1971 and trained at the National Youth Theatre of Great Britain from 1972 - 1976. He is a member of the National Youth Theatre Association and an Associate...
- Mairead McKinleyMairead McKinley-Career:Before starting her professional career, McKinley trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art , where she won the Pauline Siddle Award.-Theatre:...
- Nick Malinowski
- Shereen MartineauShereen Martineau-Theatre:Her work in theatre includes: The Hour We Knew Nothing Of Each Other at the National Theatre, London; Measure for Measure, Titus Andronicus and Richard III for the RSC, Romeo and Juliet at the Liverpool Everyman Theatre, Tejas Verdes at The Gate, London, Fallujah at Old Truman Brewery,...
- Justine Mitchell
- Daniel Poyser
- Adrian SchillerAdrian SchillerAdrian Schiller is a British theatre, TV and film actor, notable for appearances in The Hour We Knew Nothing Of Each Other, Terry Pratchett's Going Postal, Being Human, A Touch of Frost and Doctor Who ....
- Amit Shah
- Sara StewartSara StewartSara Stewart is a Scottish actress, perhaps most famously known for her role as Stella in Sugar Rush.-Early life:Stewart was born Sara Scott Griffith in Edinburgh, Scotland, to American parents...
- Giles Terera
- Jason Thorpe
- Harry TowbHarry TowbHarry Towb was a Northern Irish actor.-Early life and career:Towb's father was Russian and his mother was Irish. He attended the Finiston School and Technical College, Belfast...
- Simon Wilson
- Sarah WoodwardSarah WoodwardSarah Woodward is a British actress.She acted along side David Suchet in the Death in the Clouds. She won a best performance in a supporting role award at the Laurence Olivier Awards in 1998 for her role in Tom & Clem....
The technical crew were as follows:
- Set Designer - Hildegard Bechtler
- Costume Designer - Moritz Junge
- Lighting Designer - Jean Kalman
- Music - Mel Mercier
- Sound Designer - Christopher Shutt
In 2009, Tantrum Theatre performed The Hour We Knew Nothing Of Each Other in the open-air of Wheeler Place, Newcastle, Australia