Co-opting Classicism and Debating Cultural Identity on the German National Stage in Mannheim

The German stage was dominated by Italian operas and translations of French and Shakespearean dramas at the beginning of the eighteenth century, but numerous voices were also calling for significant reforms. Johann Christoph Gottsched was among the first critics to exhort Germans to produce their own plays. He was followed by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, who urged German play- wrights to stage the issues confronting the emerging middle class, while Johann Gottfried was a passionate proponent of dramas based on German histori- cal figures, events, or myths. Scholarship on the relationship of German theatre to national identity has focused almost exclusively on playwrights' response to these repeated calls. In his introduction to National Theatres in a Changing Europe, S. E. Wilmer argues that national theatres and their audiences be regarded as a potential microcosm of the nation (or elite of that nation) in an active forum for national debate about cultural identity (2). Indeed, an examina- tion of the discussions and activities at these institutions can offer insights into the early formation of a nation's character - whether realized or only ima- gined, as Benedict Anderson has argued. In the case of the German-speaking world, scholars have concentrated their attention primarily on the repertories at the four major theatres - Hamburg (1767), Weimar (1775, with the arrival of Jo- hann Wolfgang von Goethe), Vienna (1776), and Mannheim (1779) - estab- lished during the age of Enlightenment when the discourse on German identity began in earnest. Recent studies on the extent to which these artistic centres aided and advanced the creation of a German nation or a sense of cultural nation- alism cover a broad spectrum - from little or no contribution (Echternkamp 132- 33; Krebs 586-88; Steinmetz 150) to significant or major milestones (Hoyng 217; Wilmer, Herder 64). Regardless of whether or not they see the theatre as central to the formation of national identity, scholars have reached their conclu- sions by analysing the same material - the authorship and subject matter of the plays performed. While an examination of German plays and playwrights in the eighteenth century is clearly essential, this study expands the scope of the inves- tigation to include what the actors themselves have to say on the matter of national identity. In contrast to the published dramas, the actual recorded minutes

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