The Drama of German Expressionism He National Theatre Recently Staged a Pile of the Bank’S Money; His Wife and the Fate of the Main Character

VOLUME 14 NO.3 MARCH 2014 journal The Association of Jewish Refugees The drama of German Expressionism he National Theatre recently staged a pile of the bank’s money; his Wife and the fate of the main character. an important, but rarely seen, play Daughters, representing the conventional The play’s language is stripped down to its by the best-known of the German family life that he abandons; and the various basics for maximum expressive effect, in line TExpressionist dramatists, Georg Kaiser figures that he subsequently encounters in with the Expressionists’ desire to rediscover (1878-1945). From Morning to Midnight his whirlwind, one-day trajectory through the essential humanity of mankind beneath (Von morgens bis mitternachts) was written the deadening layers of modern life. This in 1912 and first performed in April 1917 striking, declamatory style was known at the Munich Kammerspiele. It is a classic as the ‘Telegrammstil’, attributed first to piece of Expressionist theatre, with its the poet August Stramm: ‘Mensch, werde clipped, staccato dialogue, its abandonment wesentlich!’ (‘Man, become essential!’) was of a conventionally structured plot and the final line of the poem ‘Der Spruch’ realistic, individualised characters, and (‘The Saying’) by the Expressionist poet its attempt to pierce through the surface Ernst Stadler. The characteristic mode of detail of everyday bourgeois life to convey expression for these writers was a rhetorical the deeper reality of human existence in an outcry of extreme intensity, which became industrialised, mechanised society devoid of known as ‘der Schrei’ (‘the scream’), with values beyond soulless materialism. obvious reference to the celebrated painting Although this play was performed at by Edvard Munch. Stadler began his poem the Garrick Theatre in London in 1922, ‘Anrede’ (‘Address’) at a white-hot pitch in a translation by Ashley Dukes, German with the line ‘Ich bin nur Flamme, Durst Expressionism never established itself on und Schrei und Brand’ (‘I am but flame, the British stage. For all that, it remains thirst and scream and fire’). one of the most important theatrical These dramatic and stylistic devices movements of the twentieth century. Like served the purpose of conveying a new the avant-garde, modernist movements Georg Kaiser, 1878-1945 and more truly humane vision of life. that erupted into the visual arts in the Expressionist plays tended to begin with first years of the twentieth century, when the pleasures of Berlin, culminating in the the main character’s abrupt break with his figurative paintings representing external Salvation Army Girl, who seems to offer existing life – in From Morning to Midnight reality were replaced by extreme distortions him redemption but ultimately betrays him the Clerk’s theft of money from the bank. of that reality or by abstract, non-figurative to the police. The protagonist then sets out on a series of compositions, Expressionist theatre aimed The provincial bank where the Clerk experiences (the ‘Stationen’) in which he – to break decisively with the tradition of works is depicted as the archetypal setting or, as in Ernst Toller’s Masse Mensch (Masses realism that had dominated the nineteenth for the dehumanised, alienating routines and Man), she – discovers a new set of century. of modern working life, dominated values – moral, social, political and aesthetic Expressionism, which began around by the power of money. Expressionist – to replace the corrosive materialism, 1910 and petered out in the mid-1920s, stage sets concentrated on the essential militarism and authoritarianism of existing sought to create a wholly new artistic features of a scene, often using lighting society. Through that discovery, the main means of conveying the human experience. to focus on the central character, while character undergoes a transformation In place of the representation of surface other figures exist in a secondary, half- (‘Wandlung’ – the title of Toller’s first reality, it aspired to express the essence lit world, emphasising their status as drama), becoming a ‘New Man’. This of a situation or scene and, in place of mere players in the protagonist’s drama. ‘neuer Mensch’ was the ideal of playwrights the investigation of the psychology of This was the case with plays like Walter like Toller, Hasenclever and Reinhard individuals, it presented types, whose Hasenclever’s Der Sohn (The Son) (1916), Johannes Sorge, whose play Der Bettler experience stood for that of whole categories the first Expressionist drama to reach (The Beggar) (1912), is often seen as the of people. In From Morning to Midnight, the the stage, where secondary characters first Expressionist drama to be written. main character is simply called the Bank embody aspects of the Son’s inner life. In This process of the spiritual regeneration Clerk, while the other characters are also its structure, From Morning to Midnight (‘Erneuerung’) of the hero was intended to named functionally, according to their roles is also an example of the Expressionist foreshadow the regeneration of the whole of in the drama. They include the Lady, whose Stationendrama (the term is taken from society. Expressionism was thus a utopian, arrival in the bank at the play’s beginning the Stations of the Cross), a loosely knit idealist movement that strove for nothing causes the Clerk to throw over years of succession of more or less autonomous less than a spiritual renewal of society, a arid working routine and abscond with scenes, almost cinematic in effect, charting continued overleaf journal MARCH 2014 The drama of German SPECIAL EVENT SPECIAL EVENT Expressionism continued The Last Train renewal whose necessity was drastically Judith Kerr reinforced by the mass slaughter of the First Sunday 29 June 2014, 3 pm to Tomorrow at the World War. Sunday 9 November 2014, 3 pm London Jewish Cultural Centre (LJCC) Kaiser’s plays are ambivalent about at The Roundhouse, London NW1 the possibility of such a renewal. In From We are delighted that the celebrated author The world-famous composer and conduc- Morning to Midnight, the Clerk, having Judith Kerr will be our guest of honour at a tor Carl Davis will perform the London been disappointed with the pleasures of special event we are organising with the premiere of his tribute to the Kinder- the metropolis, glimpses a new world of London Jewish Cultural Centre. spiritual values in the figure of the Salvation transport, The Last Train to Tomorrow, on Army Girl; but, when he throws away his Judith has become part of the fabric of Sunday 9 November at The Roundhouse, money at a Salvation Army meeting, the British life and her books have enthralled London NW1. and inspired children for many decades. supposedly otherworldly penitents hurl As the date marks the anniversary of themselves on the banknotes and the We especially encourage the families of Kristallnacht, the proceedings will include Girl denounces him to the police. Utterly our members – Second and Third (and a commemoration of the Reichspogrom of disillusioned, he shoots himself. However, possibly even Fourth) generations – to 9-10 November 1938. in Die Bürger von Calais (The Burghers of come along. We are thrilled that Judith Calais The event will also feature The Marriage ), written at almost the same time as has agreed to read from her books When From Morning to Midnight, Kaiser depicted of Figaro Overture by Mozart and Men- Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit and When the the triumph of regeneration through a delssohn’s Violin Concerto performed by Tiger Came to Tea to younger members historical case – that of the six citizens of the City of London Sinfonia and the Finch- of the audience. She will also reflect on Calais whose willingness to sacrifice their ley Children’s Music Group, together with her own experiences and take questions own lives to save their town from the an outstanding young violin soloist from from guests. besieging English in 1347, immortalised the Yehudi Menuhin School. in Rodin’s sculpture, secured the lives of Please book early to avoid As the event will take place on a Sunday all. In his essay Vision und Figur (Vision disappointment and join us for what we afternoon, we particularly encourage and Figure), Kaiser stated that all true are sure will be a memorable gathering members to bring along their children and drama was underpinned by a vision. ‘Von by purchasing your tickets through the grandchildren. welcher Art ist die Vision?’ (‘What is the LJCC website www.ljcc.org.uk nature of the vision?’), he asked, and replied or by calling AJR Head Office Details of how to purchase tickets will emphatically: ‘Es gibt nur eine: die von der on 020 8385 3070. be announced in due course, but to Erneuerung des Menschen’ (‘There is only register your interest in attending please one: that of the regeneration of mankind’). email [email protected] Expressionism marked the revolt Kornfeld’s important essay Der beseelte und of the young generation of the 1880s der psychologische Mensch (The Spiritual and and early 1890s against the materialism the Psychological Person) (1913) develops regenerate community. Kurt Pinthus gave and commercialism, the complacent the distinction between the ‘old’ alienated, his famous anthology of Expressionist verse philistinism of pre-1914 Germany, where soulless man and the New Man of the the title Menschheitsdämmerung (1920), man’s spiritual side seemed to have been future. That caused a generation conflict, meaning either the dawn or the twilight of stifled in the dehumanised world of the as the sons, for example in Hasenclever’s humanity, thus implying both the demise modern industrial metropolis. It was that Der Sohn or Arnolt Bronnen’s Vatermord of the old world and the birth of the new. spiritual side of human existence, ‘Seele’ (Parricide) (1920), rejected the alienated, But these hopes for a radically better (‘soul’), that the Expressionists sought to materialistic world of their fathers and world faded rapidly after 1918.

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