Woyzeck (A Methuen Theatre Classic)

Woyzeck (A Methuen Theatre Classic)
Written in 1836, Woyzeck is often considered to be the first truly "modern" play. The story of a soldier driven mad by inhuman millitary discipline and acute social deprivation is told in splintered dialogue and jagged episodes which are as shocking and telling today as they were when first performed, almost a century after the author's death, in Munich 1913.This volume contains an introduction and notes by Michael Patterson
Customer Review: It's an IB life for us
Well, this play sure was unique, I'll give it that. I had to read it for the Theatre Arts International Baccalaureate Exam (2001). It was one of three choices (the other two were by Dario Fo and Lorraine Hansberry which explains their listing on the "people who bought this also bought" list) and it seemed the most interesting. Basically, Woyzeck is a soldier in 1830s Germany. He has a girlfriend whom he discovers is cheating on him with a higher-ranking official. All the while, he is humiliated by his superiors and the townspeople. One day, he buys a knife and murders his girlfriend. The author, Georg Buechner, died while writing the play, so it ends, rather ambiguously, with Woyzeck wading into a pond into which he will throw the murder weapon. This was an interesting play to analyze for IB inasmuch as it provided a good deal of material for me to work with and I had good ideas about how the play ought to be produced. Still, the plot was very strange.
Customer Review: Fast-Paced and Gripping
(I always wanted to say that.) Woyzeck is a designer's nightmare but an actor's dream: a tragedy of immediate imagery, almost written for the MTV generation. Scenes that last at most two pages flicker around archetypes like the overbearing Major and the menacing Doctor, while the play's more human characters find themselves caught in between. There are searingly tragic moments (as befits the genre). There are also darkly funny ones: Woyzeck's conspiracy theories, Andres's childish songs, the Scholar's politically incorrect comments. Buchner left the world young, and if this play is any indication, that's a tragedy too. As a reader, an actor or a (shudder) designer, you'll enjoy being swept along by his work.