SOURCE: Riding, Alan. “The Drama before Language Intervenes.” New York Times 144 (26 December 1994): 33.

In the following review, Riding discusses the production of Handke's The Hour We Knew Nothing of Each Other and how a play without words, only sound and actions, achieves a greater level of drama.

A play without words? Mime, of course. Well, no. In mime, gestures replace words and, in the end, little is left unsaid. Peter Handke's idea is different. He looks around and sees myriad brief encounters that never reach the stage of words. So he has written a play before words.

It is not hard to imagine. In the hurried solitude of urban life, individuals send out “here-I-am” messages through their appearance and body language. Without a word being uttered, they set off responses of fear, respect, curiosity, arousal, indifference, disapproval. Then the moment passes and the crowd moves on.

In The Hour...