My first time ... at Atelier Righini Fries

I step into the studio – the exhibition could not be staged more fittingly. The scent of the original, oiled wooden parquet flooring, dating from 1898, provides the perfect introduction to a journey into the theatrical worlds of the past. The large panoramic window overlooking the garden provides the perfect spotlight. The current exhibition, entitled ‘My Stage is Paper’, focuses on the theatre drawings by Hanny Fries created at the Schauspielhaus. From 1945 to 1990, she produced commissioned sketches during final rehearsals, which were later printed as illustrations alongside opening night reviews in Zurich’s newspapers.

Third or seventh row, far right – this is where Hanny Fries sat in the semi-darkness with a torch, sketching with a pencil what she saw and what she felt. After just a few glances at the works, it becomes clear to me: in her role, which must undoubtedly have been a calling, she was entrusted with a leading role beyond the stage. She said of herself: “My stage is the white paper over which the tip of my pencil glides, dances, stumbles, races, hesitates…” In this sense, the exhibition brings a piece of Zurich’s theatre history to life. Hanny Fries’ drawings strike me as spontaneous, executed with quick strokes and yet very deliberate, distinctive and memorable. Her work bears witness to intuition and leads me to conclude that her creative process was meditative. Emotions and the dynamism of the moment are captured with precision. Transience is given permanence. I encounter Dürrenmatt’s *The Physicists*, Shakespeare’s *Hamlet* and von Horváth’s *Kasimir and Karoline* – all captured in a strikingly concrete manner within their abstraction.