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Expressionism
FRANK WEDEKIND
Frank Wedekind
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Born 1864
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1887 - in contact with socialist group, ‘Young Germany’
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1890 - Writes Spring Awakening
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1898 - First performance of Earth Spirit
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1899 - Imprisoned for satirical poetry
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1901 - Joins The Eleven Executioners
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1904 - Pandora’s Box
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1906 - First Performance of Spring Awakening
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1918 - Dies
Frank Wedekind (1864-1918)

Bertolt Brecht on Wedekind in 1918:

‘His vitality was his finest characteristic.
… A few weeks ago at the Bonbonniere
he sang his songs to guitar
accompaniment in a brittle voice, slightly
monotonous and quite untrained. No
singer ever gave me such a shock, such a
thrill. It was the man’s intense aliveness,
the energy which allowed him to defy
sniggering ridicule and proclaim his
brazen hymn to humanity, that also gave
him this personal magic. He seemed
indestructible.’ (1977: 3)
“Last Saturday night we sang his songs to the guitar as we swarmed down the Lech under
the star-dusted sky... On Sunday morning we were horrified to read that Frank Wedekind
had died the day before... Without actually seeing him buried I cannot conceive that he is
dead. Like Tolstoy and Strindberg he was one of the great educators of modern Europe.
His greatest work was his personality”.
Bertolt Brecht 1918
“After the long orations Lautensack (one of the Eleven Executioners) forced his way
to the grave, threw a wreath into it, broke down and cried: “Frank Wedekind! Your
last pupil, Lautensack!’ Then he jumped into the grave. A few days later he was shut
up in a mental asylum, where he died the following year.
Edward Bond 1980
Spring Awakening
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Based on truth - two of
Wedekind’s classmates
committed suicide
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“The boy wasn’t mine” - spoken
by a father at the funeral
Autobiographical elements
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‘I began writing without any plan, intending to write what gave me pleasure. The plan came into being
after the third scene and consisted of my own experiences or those of my school fellows. Almost
every scene corresponds to an actual incident.’ (Wedekind, quoted in Bentley 2002: xxi)
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Wedekind, like Moritz, struggled at school and was held back a year.
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The young Wedekind came close to suicide himself after two classmates shot one another in a
suicide pact in 1880.
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In 1881, another classmate killed himself:
•
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‘Last Friday Frank Oberlin cut school. Saturday morning at 4 o’clock he took his history book and
went to the embankment to review his history lessons. Two hours later at 6 o’clock his body was
found washed up on the banks of the Aare River.’ (Wedekind, letter to Adolf Vögtlin, quoted in Ham
2007: 52)
A fourth classmate, Moritz Dürr, killed himself in 1885.
Spring Awakening
(Frühlings Erwachen)
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1891: Publication.
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1906: Theatrical premiere of Spring Awakening in Berlin.
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1908: Banned in Germany (ban subsequently revoked).
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1910: Private performance in England by the Stage Society.
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1912: First US production, given in German in New York.
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1917: First full English-language production, also in New York.
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1963: English Stage Society produce two Sunday night performances at the Royal Court Theatre.
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1974: First uncensored English-language performance at the National Theatre, in a version by Edward
Bond.
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2006: Adapted into a rock musical on Broadway.
Wedekind on the play
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“I found there a really horrible tragedy in the grandest dramatic style. I
tried to do the most I could to bring out the sense of humour, especially
in the scenes with Wendla, and in all the scenes with her mother, as
well as in the last scene: I tried to develop the intellectual, the playful
elements and to dampen down the passionate elements, including
those in the last scene at the churchyard. I believe the play is more
gripping the more harmless, sunny, laughing the performance.”
German schools
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‘By the end of the century… an increasing number of young people
remained in school for longer periods of time, during which they
were expected to behave like children although their bodies and
drives were fully developed. An increasing number of social
disorders attended this peculiar custom, the most dramatic of which
were student suicides. … Adolescent suicide soon became one of
the leading subjects of German dramas and novels. And, as might
be expected, the growing host of school reformers became
preoccupied with this problem as well. They saw the increase in
suicides as the direct result of an evil and outdated educational
system.’ (Fishman 1970: 172)
German schools
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‘By Wedekind’s day, an incredible forty percent of male adolescent suicides were
attributed to undue stress and failure in school’ (Ham 2007: 51).
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Aspects of schooling included attempts to instil unquestioning respect for authority
(through discipline) and competition between pupils (through ensuring a set
proportion of failures).
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Fishman paraphrases an article by educational reformer Ludwig Gurlitt:
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‘The most vicious aspect of the German educational and bureaucratic system… is
its impersonality. Every administrator, teacher, and student becomes part of a vast,
impersonal apparatus. Each day students are herded into pedagogical barracks
and disciplined by state pedants. No attempt is made to understand the nature
and needs of young people.’ (Fishman 1970: 177)
Similarities to Buchner?
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Short, terse scenes
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Nameless characters
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Unrealistic/poetic language
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Juxtaposition of
indoors/outdoors,
light/dark, children/adults,
boys/girls
Formal features
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Structural features:
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Moving from one mode (naturalism?) into another (expressionism?)
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Episodic form – principle of montage and juxtaposition
Patterns and parallels:
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Act One: mostly outdoors; children dominate.
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Act Two: mostly indoors; moved towards monologues.
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Act Three: mostly institutions; adults dominate.
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Violent climax to each act Moritz and Melchior’s moments of choice.
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Typography (e.g. hayloft scene, Moritz’s suicide, graveyard scene)
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Symbolism:
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Movement through spring, summer and autumn.
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Woods (like fairy tales)
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Wind / storm
Spring Awakening as social criticism
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‘More boldly than any other dramatist Frank Wedekind has laid bare the
shams of morality in reference to sex, especially attacking the
ignorance surrounding the sex life of the child and its resultant
tragedies. … Never was a more powerful indictment hurled against
society, which out of sheer hypocrisy and cowardice persists that boys
and girls must grow up in ignorance of their sex functions, that they
must be sacrificed on the altar of stupidity and convention which taboo
the enlightenment of the child in questions of such elemental
importance to health and well-being.’Emma Goldman, The Social
Significance of Modern Drama, 1914:
Who was that masked man?
Melchior.
You are——my father?
The Masked Man.
Wouldn't you know your father by his voice?
Melchior.
No.
The Masked Man.
Your father seeks consolation at this moment in the sturdy arms of your mother.——I will open the world to you. Your momentary lack of resolution
springs from your miserable condition. With a warm supper inside of you, you will make fun of it.
Melchior.
(To himself.)
It can only be the devil! (Aloud.) After that of which I have been guilty, a warm supper cannot give me back my peace!
The Masked Man.
That will follow the supper!——I can tell you this much, the girl had better have given birth. She was built properly. Unfortunately, she was killed by
the abortives given by Mother Schmidt.——I will take you out among men. I will give you the opportunity to enlarge your horizon fabulously. I will
make you thoroughly acquainted with everything interesting that the world has to offer.
Melchior.
Who are you? Who are you?——I can't trust a man that I don't know.
The Masked Man.
You can't learn to know me unless you trust me.
Melchior.
Do you think so?
The Masked Man.
Of course!——Besides, you have no choice.
Max Reinhardt’s production, 1906
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First performance at the Berlin Kammerspiele, 20th
November 1906, directed by Max Reinhardt.
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Reinhardt had opened the Kammerspiele earlier that
year with a production of Ibsen’s Ghosts.
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J. L. Styan describes the production as ‘an historic
event in the growth of expressionism’ (1982: 33).
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‘His [Reinhardt’s] production, with its masterly use of
the most up-to-date staging-techniques (revolving
stage, no ‘realistic’ sets, gauzes) set a precedent for
later productions of a work soon regarded in the
German-speaking countries as the spearhead of a
new concept of drama.’ (Skrine 1989: 77)
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Wedekind himself played the Man in the Mask (left).
WEDEKIND AND
EXPRESSIONISM
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‘What my plays cannot stand is a naturalistic approach, with hands
in pockets and the words sloppily mumbled so that nobody can
catch them. And please spare me your psychological subtleties:
there is no such thing as “psychological” style – the psychological
dimension goes without saying and will emerge of its own accord if
my characters are presented consistently. Their psychology is my
business, it is not the business of my characters, still less of the
actors playing them.’ (quoted in Skrine 1989: 72)
Spring Awakening and censorship
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Spring Awakening has been heavily censored for most of its theatrical life.
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Scenes 2.3, 3.4 and 3.6 were usually cut in their entirety, from the very first performances until the
1970s.
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Censored elements in Reinhardt’s production included the teachers’ names, Melchior’s beating of
Wendla, and the three scenes mentioned above (two of them removed by the censor, while Wedekind
and Reinhardt chose to lose Hänschen’s monologue after the censor’s cuts).
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Reinhardt wrote to the police appealing against the censorship of the play:
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‘In this work it is not merely a question of new material, but also of an original form of psychological
presentation, and the theme (the mental and physical struggle of adolescent youth) is approached
with such moral seriousness, honesty, sense of value and tragic weight, is so far removed from the
frivolous, so entirely free from ugly suggestion, that the chance of giving any offence to a sensitive
viewer seems quite out of the question.’ (Styan 1982: 35)
Spring Awakening and censorship
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The play’s first English-language performance was a single matinee in New York in
1917. The producers had to go to court to get an injunction to allow them to go
ahead.
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Following this, a Supreme Court Justice declared that it had ‘no proper place on
the stage of a public theatre’ and that it did ‘infinitely more than harm than good’:
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‘Apparently the young are to be equally enlightened without giving the parents a
prior choice of some less turgid channel of education. Some may find a
beneficial moral in this play, but the majority, particularly the younger element,
would find in the portrayal only what is portrayed – a pruriency attributed as
typical of youth – to which type, happily, many do not conform.’ (New York
Times, 3 May 1917)
SPRING AWAKENING: THE
MUSICAL
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Stacy Wolf has argued that the musical version ‘offers a tacked-on celebrate-the-day ending that
differs from its source material, even more jarring since it follows the suicide of one character and
the death from a botched abortion of another’ (2011: 217).
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The rape of Wendla is omitted
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The ‘tidied-up’ ending (losing the Masked Man) is perhaps reminiscent of those of the musicals
Les Miserables and Rent.
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Edward Bond wrote in 2009:
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‘Actors act onstage as if they were playing theatre in a TV studio but no drama school teaches
them how to act in “the public place of drama”. Designers decorate theatre spaces but no design
school teaches them how to create “the public place of drama”. And now Spring Awakening is
made into a musical. Musicals are for those who are locked into the toyshop.’ (2009: xvi)
Pandora’s Box
Expressionism
• Expressionism is a term that was first coined in 1901 to distinguish
paintings done by neo-impressionists who tried to capture the
appearance of objects under a particular light and moment
•
Expressionism in painting emphasizes strong inner feelings about an
object
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Portrays life as modified, twisted, and distorted by the artist’s
personal perception of reality
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Does not try to imitate reality, but transform it.
Expressionism
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Expressionism seeks to discover and examine the essence of life, the
internal, eternal meanings of facts, objects, and people.
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Expressionism seeks to find a deeper reality than on the surface
FROM MORN TO
MIDNIGHT
The Scream- Edvard Munch,1893
This painting is often
interpreted as an
EXPRESSION
of Munch’s personal
torment and mental
illness.
Munch - The Scream
•
Before the Expressionist period artists showed people in anguish,
just as they would appear to a rational, objective viewer. With Munch
and the other Expressionists, this changed. They showed the world
as viewed through the eyes of people in anguish. When seen that
way, the colors and shapes of familiar objects change. Trees, hills,
houses, and people are pulled out of shape and take on new,
unexpected colors.
Munch -The Scream
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[Munch] used curved shapes and colors that are expressive rather
than realistic. Everything is distorted to make you feel a certain
way…there is no mistaking the fact that the person in this painting is
terrified. The body bends and twists as a scream builds and erupts
from deep within. It is a scream so piercing that the figure clasps its
hands tightly over its ears. The entire scene vibrates with the
intensity of this scream – it echoes across the landscape like ripples
across still water (Mittler. Art in Focus. 538).
Edvard Munch – Vampire -1893
Edvard Munch
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The childhood of Edvard Munch was marked by tragedy. His mother
died when he was five, and one of his sisters died when he was
fourteen … The fear, suffering and death of loved ones that he
experienced in his own life became the subject matter for his art
(Mittler. Art in Focus. 537).
Germany in World War One
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On June 28, 1914, Franz Ferdinand, the Austro-Hungarian heir to the
throne, is assassinated
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Germany allies with Austria-Hungary
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On August 3rd, 1914, Germany declares war against France, and
German soldiers invade Belgium, seizing towards France
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By August 27th, Germany sends forces to the eastern front
Germany in World War One
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The Trench is built on the western
front- the battle in the west
becomes a war of attrition
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Forces on the eastern front
trapped by Russian forces
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May 31, 1916, the U.S. enters the
War, after having ships attacked
and sunk by the German navy
Germany is defeated
•March- September, 1918:
The Allies surge Germany
and push them back from the
western front
•Germany has lost 1,000,000
soldiers, leaving them with an
army of 2.5 million
•The German army is down
191 divisions to the 400-500
of the Allies
•Bulgaria (Germany’s ally) is
defeated in late September
•German army is defeated
Impact of World War One on Germany
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Throughout the war, Germans had been led to believe by
government propaganda that they were winning the war
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Germany literally being starved of food due to Britain’s blockade of
Northern ports
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Germany’s leader- William II, forced to abdicate
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The Social Democratic Party comes into power, led by Friedrich
Ebert
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SDP announces that Germany is now a republic
More Effects of the War on Germany
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Ebert completely unable to
control Berlin, establishes the
“Weimar Republic”
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Soldiers returned from war still
armed, blaming the government
(although it was not Ebert’s fault
that Germany had lost the war)
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2 million soldiers killed. Because
these soldiers had been
Germany’s workforce, the
country’s economic situation
plummeted
Germany Post WW1
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Economic disaster
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Loss of manpower
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Complete disrespect for the government
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Thousands of armed, disillusioned soldiers roaming streets
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A civilian population devastated and traumatized by the impact of war
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A political revolution, transforming the nation into a republic led by an
unpopular and opposed government
Egon Schiele (Austrian 1890-1918), Self-Portraits, 1911
Oskar Kokoschka (Austrian 1886-1980), (left) Self-Portrait (Der Sturm), 1910
Kokoschka, Murder, Hope of Women, 1909, poster and drawing for his play
First Expressionist play intended as blasphemy; OK called it a "gesture of defiance"
against the bourgeois audiences of his time.
George Grosz (German 1893-1959), Dedication to Oskar Panizza, 1917-18
Grosz, Fit for Active Duty, ink on paper, 1916-17
George Grosz (German 1893-1959), Grey Day, 1921, oil on canvas
(right) Grosz, from series, The Face of the Ruling Class, 1920
Käthe Kollwitz, The Sacrifice, woodcut, 1924, part of
War Cycle
Käthe Kollwitz, The Volunteers, 1924, woodcut. Part
of the War Cycle
Bauhaus Insignia, Schlemmer
Bauhaus, Dessau 1926, Gropius
Bauhaus Office, Gropius
Walter Gropius
Gropius House
GROPIUS - THE TOTALTHEATRE
Oskar Schlemmer
Oskar Schlemmer
Van der Rohe, Chair
Van der Rohe, Chair
Breuer Chair
Bauhaus Teapot
Hitler Confiscates ‘Degenerate’ Art
Expressionism in Theatre
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“An anthropomorphic view of existence,” expressionism projected
human views and emotions into inanimate objects.
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Expressionists sought truth in human spirituality rather than in
external appearances
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Expressionists rejected
realism, believing that it
focused only on the surface
of life, implying a fixed and
materialistic nature of
society, not the real truths
of the universe.
•Expressionists believed that external reality is malleable,
and should be changed until it is in harmony with human
spirituality, the only significant truth
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Expressionists viewed the
society in which they lived as
one which mechanized and
distorted the human spirit,
preventing the attainment of
truth and happiness
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Some expressionist dramatists,
thus, took this militant view into
their art and sought to
transform social and political
conditions and effect change.
Expressionist Technique
•Expressionist
Truth was subjective
•New
artistic means were needed in order to express these new
perspectives and bring audiences beyond the surface:
•Distorted line
•Exaggerated shape
•Mechanical stage movement and body language
•Abnormal coloring of set and lighting
• Often expressionist plays were shown through the perspective of the
protagonist
• Seeing a piece of theatre through the eyes of the protagonist alters
emphasis and imposes dramatic interpretations on the event, story,
character, and thus the audience’s perception of the piece.
Thematic and Structural Elements of Expressionist
Plays
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Generally Episodic
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A central idea creating unity in a piece, often questioning the idea of a
future Utopia, and the possibility of such
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The struggle between old values and new conventions
– The Beggar by Reinhard Johannes Sorge
(1912) tells the story of a visionary poet
striving for fulfillment in a harsh and
materialistic society.
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The journey to find fulfillment and truth in life
Great Expressionist Playwrights
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Georg Kaiser (1878-1945)
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His trilogy of expressionist plays reveal his
perception of the world as it recedes into
despair, paralleling the state of Germany:
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Coral (1917): Protagonist comes to understand
the soul- fails, but is optimistic about the future.
•
Gas I (1918): Son on a journey to regenerate
society- fails but is left optimistic about the
future.
•
Gas II (1920) : Desperation of mankind- the
world is self-destructing at the end of the play
The German Film Industry
• At the beginning of World War 1, foreign film companies dominated
the industry.
• By the end of World War 1, the German Film Industry flourished. It
was propelled by a population desperate for a diversion from their
daily struggles.
Elements of Expressionism: Exploitation
• Expressionism manipulated sound, lighting and stage design to reveal
emotions and realities in an abstract manner.
• Stage sets were very artificial and were made to appear as “paintings
come to life”. All realism was removed from sets in order to allow them
to become symbols of specific emotions and conditions.
• Angular structures were utilized to exploit stage design and influence
the mood of a picture.
Elements of Expressionism
• Expressionism conveyed a tone of dissonance by effectively
abolishing normal relationships between objects and focusing upon
the abstract.
• Expressionist techniques aimed to conjure feelings of mystery,
alienation, disharmony and destabilization.
• Plots incorporated dream sequences, flashbacks and distorted
chronology to promote instability.
Expressionist Actors
•Expressionist actors engaged in harsh and amplified movements that
were often stiff or jerky to represent inner turmoil.
•Overstated costumes and makeup contributed to an actor’s ability to
portray inner realities and tumultuous emotions.
Elements of Expressionism: Chiaroscuro and
Lighting
• The technique of “chiaroscuro” was employed in expressionism.
Chiaroscuro is an artistic technique in which light and darkness are
manipulated to achieve a heightened illusion of depth.
• Expressionist directors contrasted light and dark to create shadows
and other effects which were intended to portray and arouse emotion.
Chiaroscuro
Expressionist Architecture and Landscape
• In order to put forth the abstract, it was necessary for the
Expressionist filmmaker to obliterate nature and eradicate the natural
world.
• Expressionist filmmakers believed landscapes should emit a soul and
should be considered as significant as a character in the film.
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
•Since its origin, many films have been labeled as works of
Expressionism.
•The “Cabinet of Dr. Caligari” a German horror classic directed by
Robert Weine, best personifies the Expressionist film genre.
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari - 1920
This scene
demonstrates the
effect created
through the
Expressionist
technique of using
angular structures
to help represent a
disjointed mood
and a nightmarish
atmosphere.
THE CABINET OF DOCTOR
CALIGARI
Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror: 1922
“Nosferatu”,
directed by F. W.
Murnau,
became a vampire
classic which
featured many
expressionist
elements.
Shadows and Silhouettes
Expressionism
and the use of
shadows became
became
widely associated
with the film “Nosferatu”.
In some Expressionist
films, silhouettes were
used in place of shadow.
NOSFERATU: A SYMPHONY OF
TERROR
Metropolis: 1927
“Metropolis”,
directed by Fritz Lang,
used
Expressionist elements
to depict a futuristic
city.
METROPOLI
S
The Emigration of Expressionism
•When the Nazi party came to power in
Germany, many filmmakers felt it
necessary to leave the country. They
emigrated to America and integrated
Expressionism into American cinema.
•Expressionist films became successful
in America and largely impacted the
American film industry.
THE BLACK
RIDER
SHOCK-HEADED
PETER