lF-IE QUESTORS 1R64TRE COMPANY First performance June 20th 1981

CARL STERNHEIM

"The dramatic master of the art of was Carl Sternheim ( 1878 - 1942), the son of a banker and newspaper publisher. The condensed grammar of his language aroused t he attention of the public. It was carefully calculated, as was the dramatic construction of his comedies. All Sternheim's plays had the same common denominator and the same aim: the analysis of the SpiessbUrger (narrow-minded petty bourgeois), the merciless, even scientifically precise display of his pitiful existence. Sternheim described himself as a 'surgeon on the body of the times'. He diagnosed rather than offering a cure, although he did attempt the latter as well and wrote this prescription: 'In order to be happy, man must not walk on a lead, and must not necessarily believe that two twos are four'." - Paul Frischauer Die Welt der Bilhne als Buhne der Welt.

" ... Sternheim's pictures of the middle-class hero had reduced the pre-war public to apopletic fits of sheer uncontrollable rage . . . " - Hans Rothe " ... Sternheim, whose ambition it was to become a German Moliere ... " - Kurt Wolff "There was also contemporary Expressionist prose ... Sternheim twisted grammar the way Valeska Gert twisted her arms and legs ... " - Ludwig Marcuse

" ... Knickers (in 1911) was immediately banned, because of the indelicacy of its subject ... " - J.M. Ritchie "In 100 years Knickerf will be recognised as the wittiest comedy of our time". - 15th September 1910 (in Schaubilhne)

Caver design by Jay Corbett by CARL STERNHEIM translated by M.A. McHaffie

CAST in order of appearance

THEOBALD MASKE ...... JOHN TURNER

LOUISE MASKE ...... CECILY BLYTHER

GERTRUD DEUTER ...... LORNA DUVAL

FRANK SCARRON ...... NEVILLE RASCHID

BENJAMIN MANDELSTAM.LEIGH SCHEINDLINGER

STENGELHOH ...... WILFRID SHARP

Directed by JOHN DAVEY SetdesignedbyJOY CORBETT Costumes designed by ANN A p I ET

The action takes place in the flat of Theobald and Louise Maske in a town in in the year 1900.

There are four Acts. Between Acts 2 and 3 there will be an interval of fifteen minutes. Stage Managers ...... Alan B. Smith and Doug Arundel Assistant Stage Managers...... Sue Baker, Linda Graves, Beverley Hunter, Ted Ling Lighting Designer ...... Richard Broadhurst Lighting Operators ..• , •..... , . Tim Hayward, Eric Lister Sound Designer ...... Colin Horne Sound Operator ...... Leon Henry Properties ...... • . . . . . Lisa Lawrence-Jones assisted by ...... Marguerite Minster Wardrobe Assistants ...... Hilda Collins, Sylvie Michel, Norma Kerr, Caroline Scotcher Construction. . . . • ...... Rod Keeling Assistants in all Departments ...... Tim Bull, Paul Harrison, Simon Taylor

Jugs supplied by FRANCO of Ealing Broadway

Bread supplied by The Oven Door'

Now come to the

DISCUSSION on this production, which will be held on TUESDAY, 30th JUNE, at 7.45 p.m. in the Bernard Shaw Room, led by STUART BURGE who will bring a wealth of theatre experience to bear on the task. Stuart Burge started in the theatre as an actor, but for many years he has been best known as a director. As director of the Queen's Theatre, Hornchurch, he directed over 60 productions. Sub­ sequently he has directed at Chichester, at Stratford, Ontario, in Dubrovnik, in the U.S.A., at the Old Vic and for the RSC, to mention only some. In 1968, he succeeded John Neville as director of the Nottingham Playhouse, and more recently has been artistic director of the Royal Court, at which theatre, more recently still, he has returned to acting with a delightful perform­ ance as Sorin in The Seagull.

NOTETHEDATEANDCOME TUESDAY, 30th JUNE at 7.45 p.m. in the Bernard Shaw Room All are welcome Admission is free "Sternheim, Carl. One of the best-known dramatists of the 20th Century. Inventor of a very aggressive prose style." - Paul Raabe: The Era of German Expressionism

Carl Sternheim was born in in 1878, the son of a banker. In 1908 he moved to where with Franz Blei he founded the periodical 'Hyperion'. Between 1912 and 1918 he lived in , St. Moritz, Uttwil and Dresden. After a serious illness in 1928 and several periods spent in a sanitorium he moved back to Brussels to his castle, where he died in 1942. His main period of creative activity was in the years on either side of the First World War, 1910 • 1922. Amongst the plays written and produced in this period are: Burger Schippel (Paul Schippel, Esq.) Die Hose ( Knickers) Der Snob (The Snob) 1913 Das Fossil (The Fossil) Die Kassette {The Music Box) The Maske family features in three of these plays: Knickers, The Snob and 1913.

"Sch i ppel and Maske (in three separate plays) are no longer Germans confused by madness, but have been awakened to reality, a reality which, because of their singular way of 'seizing the world', aroused the general astonishment of their countrymen." - Carl Sternheim: Preface to the 1918 edition of Knickers.

In the WEST FOYER there is an Exhibition of photographs and programmes of previous productions of plays by German dramatists presented by The Questors Theatre. COMING UP IN THE MAIN THEATRE

11 , 12, 14, 15, 17, 18JULY The Ouestors Student Group presents SATURDAY, SUNDAY, MONDAY by Eduardo de Phillipa

IN THE STUDIO

25 JULY -1 AUGUST THE ORESTEIA by AESCHYLUS

lf you've just joined The Questors, or if you're just thinking of joining, remember that OPEN EVENINGS are held every WEDNESDAY at 7.45 p.m.

AND OPENING NEXT SEASON AT THE OUESTORS ......

September Production A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE by Tennessee Williams October Production FORTY YEARS ON by Alan Bennett November Production THE WINTER'S TALE by William Shakespeare

Printed and published by The Ouestors Limited Theatre Manager: Ben O'Mahony