Room/Raum
In 1977 Linda Mussmann wrote the script for Room/Raum. The piece breaks old habits of the theatre - there is no narrative, and there are no named characters. Each line is written in both English and German, creating a duet out of the languages. The result is an overwhelming experience, utilizing movement, sound, light, and a more poetic landscape to gain access to the back of the mind. Since its inception, the work has been presented across several artistic mediums and continues to evolve.
1978 - The first production is staged, billed as a “spoken opera” accompanied by a single clarinet.
1981 - The book is published, which illustrates the text in an effort to visually convey the patterns of movement and speech of the performances.
1984 - The second stage production begins, at the behest of close collaborator Semih Firincioğlu. Vocalists Claudia Bruce and Dagmar Apel were accompanied by Firincioğlu on a modified piano, performing original compositions based on the illustrations from 1981.
2021 - Thanks to advances in digital technology, the animated film is created using archival material from both the 1981 book, and the 1984 performances.
1978 - First Staged Version
Time & Space Limited (TSL Storefront, 139-41 West 22nd Street, New York, NY)
written, designed, and directed by Linda Mussmann
in collaboration with Claudia Bruce
translated by Tarcisi Schelbert and Hedwig Rappolt
performed by Claudia Bruce, Tony Zanetta, Betty LaRoe, and Paul Peeling (clarinet)
with lighting designed by Linda Mussmann and Jim Howley
Jim O’Quinn, The Drama Review:
“From the moment a Linda Mussmann performance begins, it is apparent that she and her actors intend to use the theatre’s basic tools — language and movement — in highly unconventional ways. Sentences begin, but splinter or dissolve into fragments before they are finished.
Words are stretched and distorted and twisted out of shape. Phrases drone like incantations till their meanings dissolve. The actors move in quick athletic bursts, or haltingly like wind-up toys, or in formal patterns like dancers. They freeze unexpectedly with a face or hand or foot isolated in a pool of light.”
Linda Mussmann, quoted in The Drama Review:
“There seemed to be no consciousness of language in the theatre. Plays didn’t offer me that freedom. The way that Stein and Woolf dealt with their own particular problems through form inspired me to figure out a new way to use language for the theatre. There was no form for me to use. I had to invent my own.
Room/Raum is a particular effort to write about the idea of space. It came out of something very functional. We all spend a tremendous amount of time in the boundaries of rooms, and this has a great influence on us. Especially in theatre, one is always in a room, always in the dark.
The German Language became a part of it because it seems the most concrete language — and because there is a great mythological structure attached to the German language that is to me very interesting. The concreting idea becomes very clear in the sound of the language whether or not it is understood.”
1981 - The Book
published by Time & Space Limited Press
written and designed by Linda Mussmann
translated by Tarcisi Schelbert and Hedwig Rappolt
1984 - Second Staged Version
Time & Space Limited (TSL Storefront, 139-41 West 22nd Street, New York, NY)
written, designed, and directed by Linda Mussmann
in collaboration with Claudia Bruce
translated by Tarcisi Schelbert and Hedwig Rappolt
music composed and performed by Semih Firincioğlu
vocals by Dagmar Apel and Claudia Bruce
Semih Firincioğlu, composer:
“The graphic design (of the book) was used as a choreographic sketch for movement and as the outlining score for vocal and instrumental sounds.
The performance has been structured in terms of a musical composition: sounds and/or movements from five separate sources (two performers, one musician, tape recorders, and the lights) proceed successively/simultaneously, appearing/disappearing.
The German language is used along with the English to prevent meaning from forming a dominating linear line and to bring forth the sound value of spoken language.”
2021 - Animated Film
written and designed by Linda Mussmann
edited by Henry Munson
translated by Tarcisi Schelbert and Hedwig Rappolt
music composed and performed by Semih Firincioğlu
vocals by Dagmar Apel and Claudia Bruce
Linda Mussmann and Claudia Bruce have documented and preserved all of their work from day one. Over the past several years, most of this material has been digitized and sorted to protect the work from physical degradation, and allow it to be shared more easily.
In this case the original material consisted of over 100 illustrations on paper, and several reel-to-reel audio tapes. (No film or video tape was taken of either iteration.) Once the transfer was complete, TSL archivist Henry Munson digitally de-constructed each drawing, in an effort to bring the pages of the book to life. Unwanted pops, crackles, and tape hiss were manually removed from the original audio track.
For the time being, Room/Raum the film screens exclusively at Time & Space Limited in Hudson, NY. Check the calendar at timeandspace.org for updates.
A trailer for the film is available below.
“Room/Raum was a technical tour de force as well as evoking (for me) the comforts of graphical/verbal/musical connections that I found unexpectedly moving.”
-Seth Lachterman