An Interview with “Wolfgang Hoffmann” & “Sven Till” Directors & Creators of “Pandora 88”

The two actors, who got familiar in 1988 following the fall of Berlin Wall, have begun joint theater cooperation in a factory in 1990. Their group is named Fabrik which means factory. 
The duo performers have attended courses of a host of theater masters to receive required educations, reaching the place they are now. Once, the police expelled them from the abandoned factory they had worked in. They had to rehearse in two other places later. However, Fabrik owns a specialized hall and six studios today where they rehearse and held training classes.
Fabrik has organized an annual festival, too. It is an international group which has worked with professional theater figures from different countries. It has had performances in several places across the globe.
Irantheater website has conducted an interview with Hoffmann and Till.
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How much have you been inspired by Pandora in the Greek mythology (the first woman on the earth who opened a jar that released all the evils of mankind and diseases!)?
Actually, we had our box and relationships. We have taken some elements from elsewhere, too. When we were putting the finishing touches on the play and works were done, we called it Pandora.  
At first we had a 20-minute performance and named it Man in Box which was inspired by Men in Black. The director who joined us later said he was searching for a name of a thing like spaceship. That’s why it was finally called Pandora. Adding a number like Apollo 11 was important. The number 88 reminds us of 1988, the year we’ve got familiar. The number was added and it finally becomes Pandora 88.
Wolfgang’s wife also insisted Pandora was a good name because its story is known everywhere and as we were going to perform the play internationally.  The turning point of the mythology is that when Pandora opens the box, every evils of mankind are released except for hope that stays.
Despite that the condition of the two men in the box looks like Pandora’s mythology a lot; you say you were not inspired by Pandora, weren’t you?
Instead of answering your question, we want to ask what kind of common points you see between Pandora and our work.
One of the common points is the whole event in general. The box should not be opened. The two men are experiencing the same situation that was imposed on Pandora. A sense of forbiddance exists in the box.
What is the imposed situation?
Evils and viciousness that could plague the mankind after the box is opened!
Our focus is much on entrapment of two men in a box.
After Pandora opens the jar, all evils are released and just hope remains in the box. In your box, one man gets out and the other stays in.
It’s like this one initially picks a story to be able to be connected to a play. Such move helps person to understand the play. The first thing linking us to a play is its name. Otherwise the play would turn into a vague work and we may lose many things. Our goal was not to stage a play on Pandora Box. We didn’t want to produce a play about our personal relation either. We started improvisation, working with different materials. We found some space in the box and then our stories were found too. We had found some materials we liked. Then we had to find what the play is about. There were different solutions. After we wrote first, second and … scenes, we began with empty space and went on with materials including music and relationship between characters.
The only certain point was that the box was like a prison. Then we read Brian Canin (????) who were hostage and released after years after the fall of Berlin Wall. Therefore he was not aware of the fall of the wall. He has written a book about his experience. The theme sounded interesting. So we worked on it.
One [character] became torturer and the other blindfolded him. We noticed the theme revolved around violence. The theme didn’t work for us. We didn’t want to work on it. We gradually reached conclusion that the box’s limitations give us freedom. We didn’t want to run everywhere we wish. The box was making us confined. The environment was very similar to the closed situation of the East Germany’s where we had lived once. When people are not free, they would try different ways to express opinions.  
If Pandora mythology is set aside, the play could be seen in other perspective. Should we adopt a social approach, the first thing is that they’re in prison. Next we see the two actors do not know one another. Then their challenges and sulking come to the fore and after these stages, it is time for their childlike plays which lead to a dream pushing them toward freedom. How much do you agree with this?
There are different ways to make a play. Most of the time you know what you want to say and you say it by a play. This is a model for the contemporary theater. But sometimes, you don’t know what you want to say so you have a solution and that’s it. You create something and get it after a while that this is the one you wanted to say. You go on and search a medium to start with and go to the next step, which is producing and trying it to see what the possible final result is. It is like an odyssey. You know that you’re travelling but don’t know where you are going. You go different places and then see your plans. They must be reasonable but indeed nothing is fixed ahead.  The final work could eventually touch the audience.
In this method, there is no certain procedure to say this is this and that is that. We are not pursuing a straight narration, too. We have our interpretation but at the same time it is open to other interpretations, too. Different people could interpret it differently. This doesn’t mean nothing exists but means there is no certain and direct story.
One is suffering and the other is flagging. I think it’s easier to see the play Pandora as a poem and not a drama because music and lightings are important. It is dark or illuminated. What paces of play are. When hands and faces come in darkness in the first scene, this is created to attract audience. There is a scene where nothing happens but this gives you time. When you enter the first scene, you have the opportunity to find yourself.
In many cases, the structure is typical and relationship between people is clear like the story of the prison that I had told you. In our country, we have to serve an eight-month military service which is like a prison for us. Two or four soldiers must get along during the military service together. Then, they start doing crazy things. This is our personal experience but when you are out you may have another interpretation.
The third step is to get rid of all meanings and seeking no meaning.
That’s interesting people like to find logic for it. Take to your own inner experience and seek something like a name and a story… We’ve experienced it like this and it has been like this in Germany and Britain. One of our friends has had a work named “This is not a love story”. They ask him: “Why did you put this name on it?”
He says there are a man and woman. The only thing I didn’t want to do was making a love story. This is like that anyone who sees the play must ask why the relationship between the two is not love.
The name’s strong point is that it attracts you. We wanted to attract people by Pandora, too –to find a name which is sexy but does not explain the play in general. It is just a reference.
Should one set aside the meaning, the creativity and liberty of mind and body of the two actors could be seen given that the space is limited. Is personalization [of the play] has helped them to display their acting potentials?
Yes in a way we can say that we are working for this art. In general, the art educates us through producing a play and what happens between performers and audience. So a one-thousand-time-repeated process to say what you want and what you don’t, makes you to understand why you want this scene or don’t. The reflections of the audience are very important under such process. We have no message to convey to anyone. But the play is about connection and this is an issue of personal experience and all have their own understanding. Our purpose is to attract majority of the audience for they come and be with us and connect with our performance, happiness, sadness and experience. Some connect to us deeper and when we change our path, they say: “No! Don’t go!” There are a few people who have even deeper emotions and see themselves being entrapped in the box. Instead of teaching, it’s more interesting to ask what questions pop into the mind. Why one leaves the box? Many debates could be done but we can’t say for sure what the reason is… When I came out of the box and Wolfgang stayed in the box I wanted to ask him why did you stay there? Sometimes we get that different things happen for the same play in different auditoriums. We had a performance in Glasgow once and when I was getting out of the box I caught up among some pipes. Some theater halls have high ceilings and you can fly. This experience could be different for different people.
What is the importance of audience for you?
We want to feel them. When we’re performing in a big auditorium, we have no sense of them and this makes the job difficult. It’s better for us to perform in 100- to 200-seated auditorium.  We attach to them face-to-face and better get that whether they are with us or not.
When audiences laugh easily, this affects us a lot. In France, we had emotional audience before us. In South Korea, they were reasonable and analytical. The audiences’ approach and behaviors differ in each place. In our first performance in Iran, we received seconds of silence after the performance which was unprecedented to us. Then, they stood and clapped and we bowed to them.  We don’t see in Europe the audiences stand and clap unless a popular figure comes to stage. Only a few people who are so excited stand and clap hands. We are not accustomed to it. But it’s a great pleasure in curiosity of Iranian audience. In Iran, audiences are of paramount importance. Many students and youth came to see our work and this shows how curious your young generation is.