In six parts, actor August Zirner speaks on HYPERMADE about language, responsibility, and the subtle difference between expression and effect.
HYPERMADE: Dear Mr. Zirner, what historical misunderstandings about art and artists do you keep encountering—and which still won’t let go of you?
AUGUST ZIRNER: “Artists are just narcissists.” I think that’s a very shortsighted claim—especially when you look around and see who actually rules the world. They’re the real narcissists. In music history, on the other hand, there are plenty of examples of composers who worked for unjust regimes and were excused with the words: “He’s just an artist!” Of course, art is something that transcends day-to-day politics. But even so, an artist has a responsibility to take a hard look at those who commission them.
HYPERMADE: Do you believe there are moral, ethical, or societal boundaries that an artist should never cross? Or is that precisely where the challenge lies?
AUGUST ZIRNER: An artist is, first and foremost, a human being. And public figure consequently carries responsibility.
HYPERMADE: To what extent can art escape politics—or is the very act of creating already a political gesture?
AUGUST ZIRNER: Everything you do connects you to your environment. In that sense, everything is political in the end. Though “political” has become a rather shaky term. It used to be said: everything you do is political, and therefore so is everything artistic. Today, I think it’s more about trying to reflect and share your relationship to the world…
HYPERMADE: When people listen to you—in interviews, on stage, or through your flute playing—they sometimes think of Nikolai Medtner: an artist of quiet publicity and inner fire. Do you relate to that kind of silent intensity?
AUGUST ZIRNER: Thank you for linking me with such a wonderful composer—but no: silent intensity is not really my thing. I love being in the public eye, I love an audience—those are still the leftovers of my narcissism. Theater, music, language—the stage is where I meet the audience. If I ever came across as reserved or shy, it was probably just a clever false modesty.
HYPERMADE: Musicality as a prerequisite for good speaking—an idea you once expressed. Are there moments for you when language itself becomes music?
AUGUST ZIRNER: Music and language rub against each other like the male and female principles. They need each other, depend on each other, and can complement one another. And dance together.
A few years ago, I performed Dr. Schuster in Thomas Bernhard’s Heldenplatz. Thomas Bernhard had an incredibly musical way with language. His language carries an inner musicality. You have to resist it a bit when speaking it, but you can rely on it to carry the arc of a thought. I only discovered Bernhard quite late.
It’s a bit like Friedrich Schiller: you have to know the meter of the language but not serve it. In a way, you could say: you have to dance with the language.
HYPERMADE: How does your musical listening and thinking influence your acting—your phrasing, pauses, inner voice?
AUGUST ZIRNER: When I’ve played the flute a lot, it always affects the way I speak. Oddly enough, the reverse is also true. The way you shape phrases is crucial. You also develop a sense for the quality of silence or breaks, whether in speech or music. I used to do most things more instinctively or impulsively. Now, as I reflect more with age, I realize: phrasing, breathing, listening, and being able to wait—that all has to be practiced. You need to be able to hear the right impulse. And the art is not to wait too long, but to respond. Sometimes even quite quickly!
HYPERMADE: You’ve played various instruments like piano and guitar but ultimately focused on the flute. What has this instrument done to your voice—and your acting expression?
AUGUST ZIRNER: The breath that flows through your throat and gives voice is the same breath that flows through your lips into the flute and makes it sound. If you think of breath as something like the soul, then it can either turn into a tone inside a flute or into speech—or, of course, song—through your throat and vocal cords.
HYPERMADE: Looking back on your acting roles—what, for you, is the central moment of embodiment?
AUGUST ZIRNER: It’s definitely the language, the rhythm, the gaze, and the breath—but also the being aware of your partner. The person opposite you. The gaze of the listening partner. Reaction to your counterpart.
And there is certainly something else that cannot really be named. I don’t even want to describe it. It has to do with joy. With the joy of sharing a story with an audience. Being on stage and telling through a character.
Resonance
Perhaps it is this quiet tension that August Zirner means when he speaks of rhythm—a listening for the moment, for the unspoken between the lines.
