What is Café Müller?
Café Müller is a theatrical composition composed and choreographed by Pina Bausch. It does not have any words; it is a dance. Its length seems to be inconsistent; I've come across a webpage that lists it as 35 minutes long, but the performance I watched was just shy of an hour long.
It lacks traditional elements of theater; namely lyrics, a story such as a three-act structure, or prose. The "dance" takes place in an apparent deserted cafe, chairs and tables strewn about the stage. A sleepwalking woman wanders the stage in a seemingly random manner, while a man throws the chairs out of the way so that her path is not interrupted. Another sleepwalker — this one a man — walks to the middle of the stage. The woman eventually makes her way to him. The man in the suit repeatedly arranges their limbs in an embrace, lifts the man's arms into a position in which he can support the woman, and lifts the woman, placing her into the sleepwalker-man's arms. She falls out of his arms and onto the floor, at which point the man who arranged them repeates the process. This occurs over and over, with increasing frustration and speed. The tension builds and builds. Various other dances are performed, in which the sleepwalkers throw themselves against the wall with increasing speed and tension, or throw themselves against the floor. A woman with red hair regularly comes onto the set and expresses what appears to be shock or surprise, but in the end she becomes as chaotic as the sleepwalkers as well.
Subjective Impressions
All in all, I found the performance to be very captivating. It was sent to me by a friend of mine, a French theater student currently working on her graduate project, which is based on Café Müller. She sent me a YouTube link to a full performance, but it was one of those links that jump to a specific part in the video. She told me it was her favorite part. I watched it, and I was so captivated that I couldn't stop watching. Once it ended, I went to the beginning and watched it again until I got back to the point where I started. I almost couldn't stop watching; I almost watched it again. It's one of the more profound experiences I've had this month. It doesn't have much in the way of substance or story as is typical of theatrical compositions. It doesn't have any words (except for the music), but the amount of raw emotion and building tension in the piece transcends language; what it communicates transcends the need for language. I personally recommend this performance; it's the only one I've watched. It's not in high definition or anything but quality image isn't needed to experience the raw emotion of the piece.