Author from Bad Durrheim Everyday problems play the main role in Wilfried Linke’s book
Plays can be fun to read, arouse interest and be exciting – this is the promise of the book written by Wilfried Linke entitled "Orientation lost". And it should not be the last work filled with plays of the Bad Durrheimer author.
Bad Durrheim "It’s quite courageous for a relatively unknown author to publish plays in a book that show a spreading, disorienting action in everyday life", writes Alberto Petrella in the foreword of the book "Orientation lost", which was published in November 2021 by the newly founded "Raben und Tauben Verlag" was published. Author Wilfried Linke has nevertheless taken the plunge and published the book, which comprises a total of six plays and three scenes. The 71-year-old lives in Bad Durrheim and discovered theater as a passion for himself at an early age.
Author founds publishing house together with Petrella
Linke founded the Raben und Tauben publishing house together with Petrella. At the same time, he is the director of the theater group "The Ravens and the Doves"-, which has existed since 2016. While the ensemble used to be in the cafe clockwork performed in Schwenningen, the actors have moved to a permanent venue in Wurmlingen in 2020. The idea of publishing his plays came from the ranks of the ten-strong theater group, Linke says. With his publishing house, he wants to offer a platform for theater, poetry and novels, among other things. For thrillers and fantasy, on the other hand, the publisher was not meant, he says.
Author worked many years in Bad Durrheimer Luisenklinik
The 71-year-old author grew up in the GDR and had already had contact with theater in school. Later, he participated in a student theater group at the pedagogical college in Erfurt, Germany. For political reasons, he was not allowed to continue his studies and thus also lost his theater group, he says. Later he worked as an assistant director at the theater in Schwerin. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, he said, it was possible for him to study again, and he began to study psychology. After completing his studies, the 71-year-old worked at various clinics in Germany until he found himself at the Luisenklinik in Bad Durrheim in 2009. He worked there as a therapist until July 2021, when he retired. Now Linke devotes herself entirely to theater.
"Lost orientation" is the central theme of the book
The central theme of the book is the title – "Lost orientation". "It is about people who have lost their orientation in life and their values", says the 71-year-old. The plays address problems that shape our everyday lives. Things that Linke himself experienced or witnessed firsthand from acquaintances are also addressed in the plays. Linke’s favorite play from the new book is "Raben oder Tauben Schwarz oder Weib" (Ravens or Doves Black or White), he reveals. The three-part piece is, among other things, about how to make decisions in a team. In the end, the actors do not come to a decision – Linke reveals this much.
Pandemic prevents rehearsals of the theater group
The lost orientation also plays a role in the other pieces of the book. How the "basement" acts of a conspiracy theory, and thus, even if the play is already older, fits well into the current time. In the play "Die Entlastung nurse Andreas and nurse Bettina have lost their former intentions and suspect that their fulfillment of meaning could be another one. Here, too, it is clear that Linke brings his experiences from the clinic into the plays. Currently the ensemble is still in the final preparations and rehearsals for the premiere of "Die Entlastung", which is to take place in March. Actually, the play should have been performed in September, but the pandemic also threw a spanner in the works of the theater group due to many rehearsals.
Leftist keeps herself out of acting
The piece "What are we missing", The play, which is also part of the book, has already been staged by the group. In this play, "a blameless woman, but with self-doubt, becomes a hateful citizen who flatly rejects intellectuals," he reveals, Petrella writes. In general, only Linke’s own plays are performed by the theater group. Linke does not act herself. As a director, you can only give clear instructions if you have the necessary distance from the play," explains the author.
That it will not be the last book with plays from Linke’s pen, so much the author reveals already now. Readings with the entire theater group from the current book are still planned and will take place as soon as the pandemic allows it again.
The book "Lost orientation is available at Morys Hofbuchhandlung in Bad Durrheim, among other places.