Besides The Nest, several other plays by Kroetz have not yet been published in English or staged at American resident or experimental theaters. One of these which deserves more attention is Neither Fish nor Fowl, written by Kroetz in 1977 and first staged in the United States in spring of 1983. Oskar Eustis, resident dramaturg at the Eureka Theater in San Francisco, translated the play for its premiere there, and discussed the production with Molly Fowler last August.
Neither Fish Nor Fowl portrays two married couples, and shows the changes in their relationships after technological innovation threatens the men with unemployment. Edgar and Hermann, two Munich linotype operators, find themselves being retrained to operate a video display screen terminal word processor, and they are both unprepared for the situation. Their sense of masculinity, as well as their sense of self at work and at home, diminish greatly. While Edgar's wife begins to take on increased responsibility in her own job, moving her work to a more career-oriented position, he feels further emasculated by what he interprets as a challenge to his situation. Likewise, Hermann finds his musculinity and sense of self compromised because he is not comfortable allowing his wife to continue having the family she wants.
San Francisco Bay Guardian critic Misha Berson wrote that “despite the Munich setting, Neither Fish Nor Fowl might have been set in Detroit or Cleveland. Edgar talks about how completely different life is in the U.S., and the audience laughs nervously. For in the age af multinationals, worldwide computer networks and rampaging automation, auto and steel workers face the same kind of crises as Edgar and Hermann.”
