Does the German spectator of today have any particular expectations concerning Africa and black actors?
If they do, they can only be fulfilled by the presence of black actors. But I don’t think the Germans are particularly curious. Here, people go to the theatre because they have heard about it from someone else. Unlike the French, reviews do not influence them very much. Do you think it’s absolutely necessary to have Africans playing in an African play, as they seem to think in Germany? It’s a big problem. I have had the chance to experiment with this and, despite what some well-intentioned people might say about the universality of role or plays, I think that each character contains a certain inherent specificity. This means that the actor needs to have some roots in the given culture, because the writer writes from their own personality, environment, and culture and their characters are necessarily the product of this powerful mix. I experimented with these ideas after I played Mikul Minem, directed by a Russian. I wanted to direct the play myself with a German actor. It was only one
