29 September 2003
Democracy
One of the things I try to do in my writing is to juxtapose conflicting ideas, intentions or emotions. Sometimes these contradictions are expressed within a single character, sometimes between protagonists, sometimes in external forces such as the weather or the failure of a harvest.
I went to see Michael Frayn's Democracy at the National Theatre last week. It's a wonderful play about Germany's extraordinary renaissance from, in 1945, 'physical ruin, moral degradation, and political paralysis' to 'one of the most prosperous, stable and decent states in Europe'.
There's one contradiction, one absorbing juxtaposition …
Frayn tells his story through the career of Chancellor Willy Brandt, about whom Markus Wolf, the head of the East German intelligence service, has said:
Willy Brandt was an engaging, intelligent, morally upright man, and a compelling figure in postwar German history … [Ending Brandt's career] is a responsibility that I bear and that troubles me even after his death. The question of why I did it, accompanied by the reproach 'to Brandt, of all people', is one with which I will always be faced … Our role in bringing down Brandt was equivalent to kicking a football into our own goal.
Another marvellous juxtaposition …
There's just one scene from the play that I want to describe. Willy Brandt is on a ground-breaking trip to East Germany. A massive crowd gathers beneath his bedroom window. The East German police are powerless to disperse the enthusiastic mob. Chanting and shouting draw him to the balcony of his room. Wild shouts greet his appearance. He makes a gesture for calm, for quiet, with his hands, then he stands in silence looking down at the crowd.
A silent speech, then, an oxymoron …
And to top all of this, perhaps, Brandt inspired trust even in the mole the East Germans managed to place inside his private office. And that trust was communicated to the East and persuaded the Communist part of Germany that détente was possible.
In script-writing people talk about reversals – when the audience suddenly has their ideas turned around. In my Advice to writers pages I've talked aboutDeception and Ambiguity …
Perhaps, most importantly, I've talked about Balance. I hope I achieve it myself.
There is no reason to expect that the Labyrinth will be easy.
