Mauricio Kagel’s composition Antithese – Spiel für einen Darsteller mit elektronischen und öffentlichen Klängen [Antithesis – Drama for an Actor with Electronic and Public Sounds] premiered on 23 June 1963 at the Schauspielhaus theatre in Cologne. The play is based on a recording of both electronic music and the sounds made by a concert audience. In a “run-down, dust-filled laboratory” – according to the stage directions for both the play and film of the same name – the actor (Alfred Feussner) carries out predefined actions while listening to the recording. He attempts to repair television sets, gets tangled up in cords and cables, fumbles around with sound generators, cleans various parts, eats a slice of bread. All these actions are interrupted, only to be continued in a different manner. In this way the most improbable actions become completely natural.
