Drama

Once a month, a "drama group" of ten to fifteen participants meets at the Tysons-Pimmit Regional Library from 6:00 to 8:00 pm, to read "mit verteilten Rollen" and discuss German dramatic literature in the original language. Conducted by Irmgard Wagner, the readings offer an opportunity for in-depth encounter with great German dramas and for German language practice. A social hour in a local restaurant after the reading continues language practice on the free-style level.

RSVP to John Loth if you plan to attend. Also specify whether you need a copy of the text (available for a nominal fee). To RSVP , click here: RSVP

Looking Ahead ...

Fall 2010

Arthur Schnitzler ( 1862 – 1931) was a contemporary of Sigmund Freud (1856 – 1939) and deeply influenced by the ideas of his fellow Viennese. Like Freud, Schnitzler was trained as a medical doctor but never took up the practice of medicine. Instead he became a prolific writer of plays and stories (Novellen), some of which caused scandals (Leutnant Gustl 1901 ) or were banned from the stage (Reigen written 1896-7, publ. 1903). In Schnitzler’s texts, sharp analysis of individuals combines with deep skepticism about society. He is credited with the most thorough and truthful depiction of the late-19^th-century Habsburg Empire that went to its decline and fall in the two world wars of the last century. Schnitzler illustrated the era and atmosphere of decadence, a key term in the history of culture.

But Schnitzler is not just relevant to cultural and literary history. He has something important to tell contemporary audiences as well. Witness a performance of his early play Liebelei (1895), “Sweet Nothings” in the English adaptation that was staged at London’s Young Vic Theatre last year. It is the eternally young topic of the many faces of love that Schnitzler’s drama portrays and that keeps us puzzled and fascinated.

Liebelei explores and unmasks the “süßes Mädel” concept so beloved by turn-of-the-20^th century Vienna and by Viennese operetta audiences ever since. Two couples of similar social backgrounds but contrastive individual natures participate in Schnitzler’s süßes Mädel experiment, with radically different results. Because - this is Schnitzler’s thesis – purported choices or options for one’s life path are severely limited: by individual and societal givens. Precisely what these are you’ll find out in our evenings of reading and discussing Schnitzler’s Liebelei.

A longer and more detailed introduction is included in the text that we will use for our dramatic reading and discussion.

Scene from the 2010 stage production of Sweet Nothings (Liebelei), Young Vic, London

Once the cold and snow sets in, we will read Ödön von Horváth's Kasimir und Karoline (1932), which presents the corrosive interaction of personal motives and stereo-typical expectations in a sequence of kaleidoscopically shifting emotional relationships set among the festivities of Munich's Oktoberfest, the atmosphere of which has been soured by the onset of the Great Depression. Kasimir und Karoline is one of the plays in which Horvath developed the "critical Volksstück" to the full.

Born in Fiume, 9 December 1941, Horvath is arguably the most critically astute of the young authors of the 1920s who adapted the genres of popular theater to the interests of intellectually sophisticated audiences. He was awarded the Kleist Prize in 1931 for Italienische Nacht (Italian Night). Horvath is also well known for Ein Kind unserer Zeit (A Child of our Time) and Jugend ohne Gott (Youth without God), which depict attitudes prevalent in Nazi Germany. Both were published in Amsterdam in 1938. He died after being hit by a tree on 1 June 1938 (Mighey, David, "Ödön von Horváth" in Encyclopaedia of German Literature, edited by Matthias Konzett).

"Minna von Barnhelm oder Das Soldatenglück, a comedy (Ein Lustspiel in fünf Aufzügen) by G. E. Lessing, published in 1767 and first performed in Hamburg on 30 September of that year. Although written mainly in 1766, Lessing states that it was accomplished in 1763 (‘verfertigt im Jahre 1763’) in order to underline its connection with the Seven Years War.

The action centres on a pair of lovers who have lost contact since their betrothal in Saxony during the war; they are Major von Tellheim, an officer in Prussian service, and a Saxon lady, Minna von Barnhelm. Tellheim finds himself suspected of misappropriation of funds, and deems his honour so impugned as to render him ineligible as a partner for Minna, whom he deeply loves. Minna, hearing nothing from him, comes to Berlin to seek him out. She chances upon him at once, but finds him adamant for a separation because of his supposed dishonour. A complex intrigue ensues, in the course of which Minna makes use of Tellheim's ring, which he has pledged with the innkeeper. By simulating poverty she neatly dislodges Tellheim from his moral pinnacle, but in excessive self-confidence nearly overdoes matters. The knot is cut on the arrival of her wealthy and benevolent uncle and all ends happily. The pair of noble lovers is paralleled by the lady's maid, Franziska, and a sergeant, Werner; the other characters include a rude but loyal batman, Just, a comic grasping innkeeper, and a rascally but absurd French adventurer, Riccaut.

Minna von Barnhelm is remarkable for its topicality, its lifelike dialogue, and its indestructible good humour. Goethe, in Dichtung und Wahrheit, calls it ‘die erste aus dem bedeutenden Leben gegriffene Theaterproduktion von spezifisch temporären Gehalt’, and refers to its political symbolism, suggesting a union of opposed Germans (Prussian with Saxon), though Tellheim, who has fought for Friedrich II of Prussia, is not himself a Prussian."

Carl Sternheim (b. Leipzig, 1872 - d. Brussels, 1942), one of the most significant and most performed German expressionist authors, satirized the corrupt manners, morals and beliefs of bourgeois society in his works. His comedy Die Hose (The Bloomers) (1911) is the tale of the Maske family, a typical pre-World War I, middle-class family which, behind the mask of propriety, achieves social standing and economic success while leading a life of self-indulgence. The play was adapted by Steve Martin in 2002 as The Underpants and has been performed successfully nationwide, most recently at the Olney Theatre in Maryland.

Bertolt Brecht wrote his drama, Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder, starting in late September 1939, in exile in Denmark, and he intended it as a warning against the coming war. The drama was first performed in Zürich in 1941, the warning had been in vain. The drama’s plot covers twelve years of the Thirty-years’ War (1618-48), a war that has become the paradigmatic war in German culture. Schiller’s three-part drama, Wallenstein, had presented it as a tragedy, from the perspective of the commander-in-chief. Brecht’s drama takes the Froschperspektive, the view from below, and shows what war is like for the lowly and down-trodden, the foot soldiers and civilians. His source was a novel by the famous writer Grimmelshausen, featuring the "Ertzbetrügerin und Landstörtzerin Courasche" (1669). Yet Brecht did not produce a grim play; he knew how best to teach: through humor, irony, and wit even though the subject may be very serious. And with Mutter Courage, Brecht was developing his "epic theatre". Every scene opens with a superscript that narrates the war events and tells ahead of time what is going to happen to Mother Courage’s family. Brecht’s intention: instead of pulling us, the audience, into stage events, instead of making us identify with the stage characters, he wants us to lean back and pass judgment on events and characters. Inserted songs, many modeled on traditional songs, further distance the viewer from stage happenings. When Mother Courage in the end erroneously believes that one of her sons is still alive, she is as she has always been: a victim of illusion. But we know, and that was Brecht’s aim: "Die Courage . . . erkennt zusammen mit . . . nahezu jedermann das rein merkantile Wesen des Kriegs: das ist gerade, was sie anzieht. . . . Dem Stückeschreiber obliegt es nicht, die Courage am Ende sehend zu machen -, . . . ihm kommt es darauf an, daß der Zuschauer sieht."

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Looking Ahead ...

Fall 2010