ARTIST STATEMENT:
The Hamletmachine is an early postmodern text, written in 1977 by East German playwright Heiner Müller. At the time, both the play and its stagings were emblematic of a broader artistic shift. Müller’s fragmented, nonlinear script, loosely rooted in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, exemplified a radical break from traditional dramatic structures, prioritising image, voice, and conceptual provocation over coherent narrative or psychological character development. As such, The Hamletmachine marks a crucial moment in the evolution of theatrical form, occupying a transitional space between postmodern and postdramatic theatre.
This transition occurred well before German theatre scholar Hans-Thies Lehmann formally introduced the term postdramatic theatre in his 1999 book of the same name. Yet Hamletmachine is not only an example of postdramatic practice—it is almost a foundational text for what Lehmann would later define. Müller’s work exemplifies nearly every feature Lehmann outlines: the decentering of narrative, the dominance of performance over representation, and the collapse of the fourth wall. In this way, Hamletmachine not only challenged modernistic ideologies and aesthetic conventions but also helped shape the vocabulary of contemporary performance long before it was academically codified.
In shaping my interpretation of Hamletmachine, the theoretical frameworks of several thinkers served as valuable sources of inspiration for my staging. Their names will appear throughout this paper, as their ideas informed both the conceptual and aesthetic dimensions of the work. Artistically applying these perspectives allowed my interpretation to resist the temptation to create harmonious or visually pleasing stage images, indifferent to beauty, and charged with disruption. Instead, the piece became something more mechanical than emotional. I was building a machine — not staging a play.
ABOUT THE ARTIST:
Birgitte Moos Chalcraft is a Copenhagen-based artist in Denmark.
She creates interdisciplinary works that blend scenography, installation art, digital art, painting, performance, and text to create immersive experiences. By merging creative techniques with systematic approaches, she unites visual art and psychology into a cross-disciplinary practice she terms "visual psychology." This fusion takes her to the threshold where art-making becomes a way of being.
Her work delves into complex socio-political and metaphysical themes, including environmental justice, peace, equality, and consciousness. Drawing on disciplines such as quantum mechanics, transpersonal (spiritual) psychology, and non-duality, as well as the aesthetic of colours, Birgitte seeks to explore the interconnectedness between the microcosm of the human inner world and the macrocosmic dimensions of the universe. Through these multidimensional inquiries, she encourages viewers to reflect on humanity’s relationship with nature, the cosmos and one self, and the potential for healing.
OPENING SHOW AUG 28 kl.17
at Møllegade 23 a, kld, 2200 KBH N
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