DOCSLIB.ORG

In the Land of Darkness, Pain, and Suffering

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
In the Land of Darkness, Pain, and Suffering In the Land of Darkness, Pain, and Suffering_Wozzeck 12.06.13 10:17 Seite 1 In the Land of Darkness, Pain, and Suffering: János Szász’ Woyzeck By Jason Doerre The most renowned philosophical proponent of pessimism, Arthur Schopenhauer, once inquired, “If children were brought into the world by an act of pure reason alone, would the human race continue to exist? Would not a man rather have so much sympathy with the coming generation as to spare it the burden of existence?” It seems that Georg Büchner was wrangling with the same existential questions when devising the character Woyzeck for his eponymous dramatic fragment in 1836. Woyzeck is a lowly soldier abused by his military A DVD Release by the DEFA Film Library superiors and exploited for scientific experiments, eventually being driven to madness under the physical and mental hardships of his existence. As a fragment, Woyzeck is an appealing text for adaptation, because its loose narrative structure allows for liberties of interpretation. • • Wozzeck Since the end of the Second World War, Woyzeck has been adapted into several minor and three major motion pictures, all three in Central Europe. The first two of these remained faithful to the nineteenth-century Woyzeck setting of the original text: Georg C. Klaren’s 1947 version, filmed in what was then the Soviet sector of Germany; and West German director Werner Herzog’s 1979 version, filmed in former Czechoslovakia. In contrast, the most recent adaptation, by Hungarian director János Szász, is set in post-communist Hungary in the early 1990s. By setting the film in modern times, Szász delivers perhaps the most cynical film version of Woyzeck; the temporal distance between the present and the oppressively tragic narrative is no longer there as a buffer, creating a simultaneity with the events at hand. The landscape that Szász constructs for his Woyzeck is one so full of darkness, pain, and suffering that it justifies the pessimism of Schopenhauer’s questions regarding human existence. Only his second full-length film, Szász’ worthy rendering of the Büchner fragment have earned a number of international and national prizes, including the Gold Plaque at the 1994 Chicago Film Festival, and the European Film Award for Best Young Film. Domestically, the film was celebrated at the 25th Hungarian Film Week in Budapest in 1994, with awards for best director, best actor (Kovács), and best cinematography. In Szász’ version, the anti-hero Woyzeck is not a soldier, as in the original, but rather a lowly railroad worker In the Land of Darkness, Pain, and Suffering: János Szász’ in the desolate landscape of a freight yard. The theme of trains and railways is not new to Eastern and Central European cinema; one need only think of classics like Czlowiek na torze (Man on the Tracks, 1957, dir. Andrzej Munk), Pociag (Night Train, 1959, dir. Jerzey Kawalerowicz), Ostre sledované vlaky (Closely Watched Trains, 1966, dir. Jirí Menzel), as well as more recent films, such as Kontroll (2003, dir. Nimród Antal) and the Czech animation film Alois Nebel (2011, dir. Tomás Lunák). In addition to being photogenic for the screen, trains, railroads and their workers have played a significant role in twentieth-century Eastern and Central European history, from images of the Holocaust and partisan resistance during the Second World War to railroad strikes under communism. In the post-communist era, the monolithic infrastructure of the rail yard reminds us of the impressive ambition of the communist project, where trains were the arteries of the enterprise, moving the great industrial output of the planned economy, while also serving as a stable means of transportation and employment for the masses. In Szász’ Woyzeck, however, the rail yard appears as a ghost of its former self, evoking a haunted feeling that the film reinforces with horror-film elements, such as fog, chiaroscuro lighting and black-and-white film stock. The characters sparsely populating Szász’ forlorn landscape blend into the dilapidated infrastructure. Woyzeck, played by the formidable Lajos Kovács, commands an uncanny presence on the screen, appearing uncomfortably at home among the crumbling structures. His face bears the marks of the downtrodden, carrying the soot and sweat of days, weeks, months, and years of work. Like a rat, he scurries from one task to another with never any time between. The perpetual state of neurosis that consumes Woyzeck is 1 In the Land of Darkness, Pain, and Suffering_Wozzeck 12.06.13 10:17 Seite 2 In the Land of Darkness, Pain, and Suffering: János Szász’ Woyzeck exacerbated by his captain, who monitors him from the control tower. From this panopticon, the captain observes Woyzeck while eating his hearty meals in relative comfort. The element of surveillance is inten - sified formally through the frequent use of crane shots that monitor the landscape. Woyzeck, of course, cannot see into the tower; but he is tantalized by the sound of eating that emanates from the loudspeakers. Surrounded by the Central-European winter weather, he eats his own paltry meals—restricted to peas because of his participation in a scientific experiment—in a dark and cramped shack. The hard labor conditions, insufficient diet, and scorn of his superiors eventually reduce Woyzeck to a primal state of nervousness. Trains sporadically blowing through the frames create a heightened sense of anxiety in the film. The combination of nerves and trains, of course, has been a common pairing in the age of moder- A DVD Release by the DEFA Film Library nity, and the setting recalls another work of nineteenth-century German literature: Gerhart Hauptmann’s important naturalistic novella Bahnwärter Thiel (The Train Dispatcher, 1887). Woyzeck’s entrapment in the cruel surroundings, as well as his inescapable biological needs are common aspects of late nineteenth- • Wozzeck • • Wozzeck century literary naturalism, and we know that Büchner was an influential forerunner for pro-ponents such as Hauptmann. In Szász’ version of the story, Woyzeck’s attachment to Marie, the mother of his child, is not only emotional, but also sexual. In a scene in which he visits the confined abode of Marie and the child, he Woyzeck makes desperate sexual advances towards her; but she denies him, saying, “I’d rather you kill me.” The callousness with which Marie treats Woyzeck is perhaps mitigated by the situation, however. How can one expect humane behavior in such a landscape of darkness, pain, and suffering? In this sense, Marie is a prisoner no less than Woyzeck, and it is because of him that she has a child dependent on her. While Woyzeck pushes the limits of his physical capacity to provide for his family, Marie is tempted by the fantasy of transcending her material conditions. The chance comes when a sadistic policeman expresses lust for her, seeing her less as a human than as an outlet for his primal desires, and referring to her as a “wild animal.” To the policeman, other humans are merely a means to an end. This and his sadism are demonstrated when he vents his aggression on Woyzeck, as well as in another instance when he watches with delight as one person is assaulted by others. In Szász’ dystopian setting, the pillars of civilization are thoroughly corrupt. While the policeman delivers injury instead of protection, the doctor uses science not as a means to advance humanity, but rather the reverse: in his laboratory, located in a train car, humans are used to advance science. Woyzeck is not the only one to participate in his experiments; masses of In the Land of Darkness, Pain, and Suffering: János Szász’ Woyzecks flock to the train car, like livestock at feeding time, to earn the meager reward they need to survive for one more day. In vain, Woyzeck tells the doctor that if he himself were a doctor, he would save people. When the physical and mental strain overwhelm Woyzeck, he rebels against his existence by unleashing his anger against that which is destroying him. In this detail, Szász deviates from the original, in which Marie becomes the victim of Woyzeck’s insanity. Still, the absolute sense of cynicism Szász has created remains: Woyzeck’s action is not a step toward ameliorating the status quo, but rather an act of nihilism. Marie’s death by a serene lake in the final scene is almost an act of kindness, which frees her from further exploi - tation and an existence without redeeming qualities, and which contrasts with the darkness, pain, and suffering of the town and rail yard. Szász’ Woyzeck has qualities which mark it as a document of the early post-communist era. The power rela- tions in the film can be seen as a critique of the unequal experience of social transition after the collapse of communism. Across the former Eastern Bloc there was widespread sentiment that those in positions of power were able to preserve their positions, while those at the bottom remained at the bottom. The dys - topian setting of Szász’ Woyzeck—with figures of authority who are accountable to nobody—comments upon the structural void during this time of transition. With this in mind, Szász’ Woyzeck provides an interest - ing comparison to Klaren’s 1947 film, considering that both films were released during periods of political 2 In the Land of Darkness, Pain, and Suffering_Wozzeck 12.06.13 10:17 Seite 3 In the Land of Darkness, Pain, and Suffering: János Szász’ Woyzeck transition. Klaren’s film, however, ends with the optimistic hope of building a new, socialist Europe, while Szasz’ bears the pessimism of its collapse. Stylistically, the former displays the influence of expressionism, while the 1994 version shows an affinity to naturalism.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Franz A. Birgel Muhlenberg College
    Werner Herzog's Debt to Georg Buchner Franz A. Birgel Muhlenberg College The filmmaker Wemcr Herzog has been labeled eve1)1hing from a romantic, visionary idealist and seeker of transcendence to a reactionary. regressive fatalist and t)Tannical megalomaniac. Regardless of where viewers may place him within these e:-..1reme positions of the spectrum, they will presumably all admit that Herzog personifies the true auteur, a director whose unmistakable style and wor1dvie\v are recognizable in every one of his films, not to mention his being a filmmaker whose art and projected self-image merge to become one and the same. He has often asserted that film is the art of i1literates and should not be a subject of scholarly analysis: "People should look straight at a film. That's the only \vay to see one. Film is not the art of scholars, but of illiterates. And film culture is not analvsis, it is agitation of the mind. Movies come from the count!)' fair and circus, not from art and academicism" (Greenberg 174). Herzog wants his ideal viewers to be both mesmerized by his visual images and seduced into seeing reality through his eyes. In spite of his reference to fairgrounds as the source of filmmaking and his repeated claims that his ·work has its source in images, it became immediately transparent already after the release of his first feature film that literature played an important role in the development of his films, a fact which he usually downplays or effaces. Given Herzog's fascination with the extremes and mysteries of the human condition as well as his penchant for depicting outsiders and eccentrics, it comes as no surprise that he found a kindred spirit in Georg Buchner whom he has called "probably the most ingenious writer for the stage that we ever had" (Walsh 11).
    [Show full text]
  • William Kentridge Brings 'Wozzeck' Into the Trenches
    William Kentridge Brings ‘Wozzeck’ Into the Trenches The artist’s production of Berg’s brutal opera, updated to World War I, has come to the Metropolitan Opera. By Jason Farago (December 26, 2019) ”Credit...Devin Yalkin for The New York Times Three years ago, on a trip to Johannesburg, I had the chance to watch the artist William Kentridge working on a new production of Alban Berg’s knifelike opera “Wozzeck.” With a troupe of South African performers, Mr. Kentridge blocked out scenes from this bleak tale of a soldier driven to madness and murder — whose setting he was updating to the years around World War I, when it was written, through the hand-drawn animations and low-tech costumes that Metropolitan Opera audiences have seen in his stagings of Berg’s “Lulu” and Shostakovich’s “The Nose.” Some of what I saw in Mr. Kentridge’s studio has survived in “Wozzeck,” which opens at the Met on Friday. But he often works on multiple projects at once, and much of the material instead ended up in “The Head and the Load,” a historical pageant about the impact of World War I in Africa, which New York audiences saw last year at the Park Avenue Armory. Mr. Kentridge’s “Wozzeck” premiered at the Salzburg Festival in 2017. Zachary Woolfe of The New York Times called it “his most elegant and powerful operatic treatment yet.” At the Met, the Swedish baritone Peter Mattei will sing the title role for the first time; Elza van den Heever, like Mr. Kentridge from Johannesburg, plays his common-law wife, Marie; and Yannick Nézet- Séguin, the company’s music director, will conduct.
    [Show full text]
  • Woyzeck Bursts Onto the Ensemble Theatre Company Stage
    MEDIA RELEASE CONTACT: Josh Gren [email protected] or 805.965.5400 x103 ELECTRIFYING TOM WAITS MUSICAL WOYZECK BURSTS ONTO THE ENSEMBLE THEATRE COMPANY STAGE March 25, 2015 – Santa Barbara, CA — The influential 19th Century play about a soldier fighting to retain his humanity has been transformed into a tender and carnivalesque musical by the legendary vocalist, Tom Waits. “If there’s one thing you can say about mankind,” the show begins, “there’s nothing kind about man.” The haunting opening phrase is the heart of the thrilling, bold, and contemporary English adaptation of Woyzeck – the classic German play, being presented at Ensemble Theatre Company this April. Inspired by the true story of a German soldier who was driven mad by army medical experiments and infidelity, Georg Büchner’s dynamic and influential 1837 poetic play was left unfinished after the untimely death of its author. In 2000, Waits and his wife and collaborator, Kathleen Brennan, resurrected the piece, wrote music for an avant-garde production in Denmark, and the resulting work became a Woyzeck musical and an album entitled “Blood Money.” “[The music] is flesh and bone, earthbound,” says Waits. “The songs are rooted in reality: jealousy, rage…I like a beautiful song that tells you terrible things. We all like bad news out of a pretty mouth.” Woyzeck runs at the New Vic Theater from April 16 – May 3 and opens Saturday, April 18. Jonathan Fox, who has served as ETC’s Executive Artistic Director since 2006, will direct the ambitious, wild, and long-awaited musical. “It’s one of the most unusual productions we’ve undertaken,” says Fox.
    [Show full text]
  • WOYZECK a Record and Analysis of a Production by JOHN C. RAPSEY BA, B Ishop
    WOYZECK A Record and Analysis of a Production by JOHN C. RAPSEY B.A., Bishop's University, 1967 THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS in the Department of THEATRE We accept this thesis as conforming to the required atandatd THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA July, 1969 In presenting this thesis in partial fulfilment of the requirements for an advanced degree at the University of British Columbia, I agree that the Library shall make it freely available for reference and Study. I further agree that permission for extensive copying of this thesis for scholarly purposes may be granted by the Head of my Department or by his representatives. It is understood that copying or publication of this thesis for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission. Department The University of British Columbia Vancouver 8, Canada ABSTRACT Woyzeck, an unfinished play from the year 1837 ti by the German playwright Georg Buchner, was produced and directed by John Rapsey, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for a Master of Arts degree in the Department of Theatre of the University of British Columbia, at the Dorothy Somerset Studio from October 16 - 19, 1968. The following is a detailed record of that production along with the director's analysis and interpretation of the script. Woyzeck was produced on a budget of $350.00 and was performed four times by a predominantly student cast in a theatre seating approximately ninety people. Settings, costumes and seating arrangement were designed by Irene Rapsey. This record is divided into three main sections.
    [Show full text]
  • Berg's Worlds
    Copyrighted Material Berg’s Worlds CHRISTOPHER HAILEY Vienna is not the product of successive ages but a layered composite of its accumulated pasts. Geography has made this place a natural crossroads, a point of cultural convergence for an array of political, economic, religious, and ethnic tributaries. By the mid-nineteenth century the city’s physical appearance and cultural characteristics, its customs and conventions, its art, architecture, and literature presented a collage of disparate historical elements. Gothic fervor and Renaissance pomp sternly held their ground against flights of rococo whimsy, and the hedonistic theatricality of the Catholic Baroque took the pious folk culture from Austria’s alpine provinces in worldly embrace. Legends of twice-repelled Ottoman invasion, dreams of Holy Roman glories, scars of ravaging pestilence and religious perse- cution, and the echoes of a glittering congress that gave birth to the post-Napoleonic age lingered on amid the smug comforts of Biedermeier domesticity. The city’s medieval walls had given way to a broad, tree-lined boulevard, the Ringstrasse, whose eclectic gallery of historical styles was not so much a product of nineteenth-century historicist fantasy as the styl- ized expression of Vienna’s multiple temporalities. To be sure, the regulation of the Danube in the 1870s had channeled and accelerated its flow and introduced an element of human agency, just as the economic boom of the Gründerzeit had introduced opportunities and perspectives that instilled in Vienna’s citizens a new sense of physical and social mobility. But on the whole, the Vienna that emerged from the nineteenth century lacked the sense of open-ended promise that charac- terized the civic identities of midwestern American cities like Chicago or St.
    [Show full text]
  • CHAN 3094 BOOK.Qxd 11/4/07 3:13 Pm Page 2
    CHAN 3094 Book Cover.qxd 11/4/07 3:12 pm Page 1 CHAN 3094(2) CHANDOS O PERA IN ENGLISH PETER MOORES FOUNDATION CHAN 3094 BOOK.qxd 11/4/07 3:13 pm Page 2 Alban Berg (1885–1935) Wozzeck Opera in three acts (fifteen scenes), Op. 7 Libretto by Alban Berg after Georg Büchner’s play Woyzeck Lebrecht Collection Lebrecht English translation by Richard Stokes Wozzeck, a soldier.......................................................................................Andrew Shore baritone Drum Major .................................................................................................Alan Woodrow tenor Andres, a soldier...............................................................................................Peter Bronder tenor Captain ................................................................................................................Stuart Kale tenor Doctor .................................................................................................................Clive Bayley bass First Apprentice................................................................................Leslie John Flanagan baritone Second Apprentice..............................................................................................Iain Paterson bass The Idiot..................................................................................................John Graham-Hall tenor Marie ..........................................................................................Dame Josephine Barstow soprano Margret ..................................................................................................Jean
    [Show full text]
  • International Review of the Aesthetics and Sociology of Music
    1 UDC: 78.01:78.06 International CODEN: IRAMDA Review of the ISSN 0351-5796 Aesthetics and Sociology of IRASM, Vol. 43 No. 2, pp. 263-471 Music Zagreb, December 2012 Contents – Sadržaj Original Scientific Papers – Izvorni znanstveni članci Staffan Albinsson: Early Music Copyrights: Did They Matter for Beethoven and Schumann? 265-302 Sažetak: Što su značila ranaautorska prava za Beethovena i Schumanna? 302 Abstract - Résumé The general legal and business conditions pertaining to the music publishing business improved considerably in the 50 years between the 1790s, when Beethoven began his career, and the 1840s, when Schumann experienced his professional peak. The paradigm shift in politics, economics and music which occurred at the end of the eighteenth century made it possible for Schumann to make a living predominantly from what he earned from publishers‟ fees. Publishers united to participate in the creation of stronger copyright laws. They could depend on legal protection against re-printers and it was thus possible for them to offer higher fees. Keywords: economic history of music copyrights · intellectual property rights · music business · business history Anna Kasten: Erzählte Geschichten und geschichtete Erzählungen – Georg Büchners Fragment Woyzeck und seine musikalischen Adaptationen 303-324 Summary: Narrated Stories and Stratified Narrations – Georg Büchner's Fragment Woyzeck and its Musical Adaptations 322-323 Sažetak: Ispričane pripovijetke i raslojene priče – Fragment Woyzeck Georga Büchnera i njegove glazbene adaptacije 323-324 Abstract – Résumé Alban Berg und Manfred Gurlitt haben das Dramenfragment Woyzeck von Georg Büchner nahezu gleichzeitig in den 20er Jahren vertont. Zur Diskussion steht, wie die Komponisten auf Basis der frühen Editionsgeschichte mit dem fragmentarischen Charakter des Materials umgegangen sind und wie sich durch die unterschiedliche Interpretation die inhaltliche Ausrichtung in Bezug auf Büchner verschoben hat.
    [Show full text]
  • Georg Büchners Woyzeck-Fragment Und Werner Herzogs Verfilmung
    Die Rechte am Manuskript liegen beim Autor Marc Klesse (Würzburg) Das Los der Geringen. Georg Büchners Woyzeck-Fragment und Werner Herzogs Verfilmung 1. Tod ohne Verklärung. Georg Büchner und der historische Woyzeck Entgegen der landläufigen Meinung, ein früher Tod begünstige eine nachhaltige Verklärung des Verstorbenen, finden sich unmittelbar nach dem 19. Februar 1837, als der 23 Jahre alte Georg Büchner in Zürich seinen Kampf gegen Typhus verliert, weder posthume Glorifizierungen noch gewichtige Nekrologe in einschlägigen Zeitungen. Stattdessen verschwinden die Spuren Büchners aus der Literaturgeschichte, in der er bis zu seinem Ableben ohnehin nur einen Seitenschauplatz einnehmen durfte.1 Die schriftstellerische Hinterlassenschaft liegt daraufhin 13 Jahre brach; keine Publikation, keine gedruckten Zeugnisse und nicht zuletzt kein wohlwollendes Urteil, das dem Arztsohn Büchner den Ruf eines scharfsinnigen, zeitkritischen Autors attestiert. Dass er dies dennoch war, steht außer Frage, was z.B. eine oberflächliche Lektüre des überlieferten Briefverkehrs deutlich macht; so schreibt Büchner im Februar 1834 in einem Brief an seine Familie: Es ist deren eine große Zahl, die im Besitze einer lächerlichen Äußerlichkeit, die man Bildung, oder eines toten Krams, den man Gelehrsamkeit heißt, die große Masse ihrer Brüder ihrem verachtenden Egoismus opfern. Der Aristocratismus ist die schändlichste Verachtung des heiligen Geistes im Menschen; gegen ihn kehre ich seine eigenen Waffen; Hochmut gegen Hochmut, Spott gegen Spott.2 Zu dieser Zeit durchlebt Büchner, der sein in Straßburg begonnenes Medizinstudium in Gießen fortsetzt, eine tiefe Sinnkrise. Die unter den Menschen herrschende Gewalt, der Fatalismus der Geschichte und nicht zuletzt der frustrierende Alltag im repressiv geführten Herzogtum Hessen lassen Büchner zum politischen Aktivisten werden.
    [Show full text]
  • The Concurrent Prevalence of Modernism and Romanticism As Seen in the Operas Performed Between the World Wars and Exemplified in Ernst Krenek’S Jonny Spielt Auf
    Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 6-10-2020 The Concurrent Prevalence of Modernism and Romanticism as seen in the Operas Performed between the World Wars and Exemplified in Ernst Krenek’s Jonny Spielt Auf Nicole Fassold Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations Part of the Music Performance Commons Recommended Citation Fassold, Nicole, "The Concurrent Prevalence of Modernism and Romanticism as seen in the Operas Performed between the World Wars and Exemplified in Ernst Krenek’s Jonny Spielt Auf" (2020). LSU Doctoral Dissertations. 5301. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations/5301 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized graduate school editor of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please [email protected]. THE CONCURRENT PREVALENCE OF MODERNISM AND ROMANTICISM AS SEEN IN THE OPERAS PERFORMED BETWEEN THE WORLD WARS AND EXEMPLIFIED IN ERNST KRENEK’S JONNY SPIELT AUF A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Musical Arts in The College of Music and Dramatic Arts by Nicole Fassold B.M., Colorado State University, 2015 M.M., University of Delaware, 2017 August 2020 Acknowledgements I would like to express my deepest gratitude to the professors and panel members that have guided me throughout my Doctoral studies as well as to my parents and sister, my family all over the world, my friends, and my incredible husband for their unending support and encouragement.
    [Show full text]
  • GEORG BÜCHNER Julian Bilton Lecturer in Drama University Ofeastanglia
    MACMILLAN MODERN DRAMATISTS Macmillan Modern Dramatists Series Editors: Bruce King and Adele King Published titles Neil Carson. Arthur Miller Ruby Cohn. New American Dramatists, 1960-1980 Bernard F. Dukore. Harold Pinter Julian Hilton. Georg Buchner Leonard C. Pronko. Eugene Labiche and Georges Feydeau Theodore Shank. American Alternative Theatre Further titles in preparation MACMILLAN MODERN DRAMATISTS GEORG BÜCHNER Julian Bilton Lecturer in Drama University ofEastAnglia M ©Julian Hilton 1982 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without permission. First published 1982 by THE MACMILLAN PRESS LTD London and Basingstoke Companies and representatives throughout the world ISBN 978-0-333-29110-8 ISBN 978-1-349-16737-1 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-16737-1 The paperback edition of this book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher's prior consent in any form of binding other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. Con'tenu Acknowledgements vii Editor's Preface ix 1 A brief life: 1813-37 1 2 A man out of his time 20 3 A tradition of dissent 34 4 Danton's Death 58 5 Leonce and Lena 88 6 Woyzeck 113 7 A man of our time 138 References 152 Select Bibliography 159 Brief Chronology 162 Index 164 List of Plates 1a. Georg Buchner, penned sketch by Alexis Muston, from Fischer, Georg Buchner Untersuchungen und Margin­ alien (Bonn: Bouvier Verlag Herbert Grundmann, 1972): by kind permission Professor Fischer 1b.
    [Show full text]
  • Woyzeck Script Sample
    Script Sample For performance rights, please contact: Max Grossman Abrams Artists Agency 275 Seventh Avenue 26th Floor New York, NY 10001 [email protected] Woyzeck by Georg Büchner translated by Rob Melrose © 2007 Rob Melrose All rights reserved Though written in 1836 and 1837, Woyzeck was first published in 1879 and first produced on November 8, 1913 in Munich at the Residenztheater. This translation premiered March 15, 2007 at The Cutting Ball Theater (Rob Melrose, Artistic Director) in residence at EXIT on Taylor. It was directed by Adriana Baer with music by Cliff Caruthers, sets designed by Melpomene Katakalos, costumes designed by Raquel Barreto, props designed by Carlos Aguilar, and lighting designed by Rob Melrose. It was dramaturged by Lucia Scheckner and stage managed by Robert McPhee with the following cast: Marie Drea Bernardi Woyzeck Chad Deverman Carnival Barker, Captain David Sinaiko Doctor Ryan Oden Barker's Wife, Kathy, Child Felicia Benefield Horse, Margaret, Little Marie Rebecca Martin Drum Major, Merchant Matthew Purdon Under Officer, Innkeeper, Child John Russell Ape, Andres Bill Selig Characters Franz Woyzeck Marie Zickwolf Christian, her child about one year old Captain Doctor 1 Drum Major Under Officer Andres Margaret Carnival Barker Barker’s Wife Kathy Little Marie Grandmother Karl (Fool) Jew (Merchant) Kathy Innkeeper Ape Horse Children Journeymen Townspeople 1 - Open field. The town in the distance. WOYZECK Yes Andres, this place is cursed. See that light streak on the grass there where the toadstools are so thick? A head rolls down it every night. Once there was a guy who picked it up, he thought it was a hedgehog.
    [Show full text]
  • “Hungry for Interpretation”: Woyzeck on the Highveld and the Polyphony of Performance
    [ Theatralia 22 / 2019 / 2, Supplementum (39—58) ] https://doi.org/10.5817/TY2019-S-4 “Hungry for interpretation”: Woyzeck on the Highveld and the polyphony of performance Veronika Ambros and Lawrence Switzky “With hindsight, I can say that one of the things that puppets do well that humans beings don’t is they exemplify the everyday struggle to live that we all experience privately. The puppeteer has to struggle to keep them alive every moment they are onstage. If the puppeteer’s attention to this task fails, the puppet immediately ‘dies.’ The puppeteers’ effort in mastering their mechanisms and willing them into living, emotionally charged beings becomes a kind of triumph.” Basil Jones in Handspring Puppet Company (2009) Theatre has always been a crossroads for the arts. Prague School scholars, however, were among the first to conceptualize the audience’s experience of the polyphony of media, accounting for classical as much as for modern theatre. Their “comparative exploration of arts” (ŠLAISOVÁ 2014) has been discussed in terms of intermediality, in the sense of “mutual influences between media” (KATTENBELT 2008). Multimediality, however, as the dynamic combination of media, poses different and complex methodo- logical questions that the Prague School is also well equipped to address. As a seminal work of multimedia performance, Handspring Puppet Theatre’s Woyzeck on the Highveld brings semiotics into action by juxtaposing media in a unique way. It de- mands interpretative frameworks beyond the means usually available to puppet theatre and to multimedia performance considered in isolation from each other. Basil Jones, of Handspring Puppet Company, describes the willing to life of the puppet as a “kind of triumph.” This is a triumph that the audience of Woyzeck on the Highveld also experi- ences, not only in sustaining puppet life, but also in coordinating that life with a struc- ture and its elements.
    [Show full text]