Layer II
The Encyclopedia
The people, plays and ideas behind the revolution.
- Georg BüchnerPerson · 1813–1837
- German dramatist, radical pamphleteer (The Hessian Courier, 1834) and scientist. Wrote Danton's Death, Leonce and Lena, the novella Lenz and the unfinished Woyzeck before dying of typhus in Zurich at 23.
- WoyzeckPlay · written 1836–37; premiered 1913
- Fragmentary play about a poor soldier driven to murder his partner Marie. Based on the real Johann Christian Woyzeck, executed in Leipzig in 1824. First published in 1879 and first staged in Munich in 1913. Its scenes survive unordered, so every production chooses its own sequence.
- Johann Christian WoyzeckPerson · 1780–1824
- Former soldier and barber who killed his lover. Debate over whether he was mentally competent made his case a landmark in forensic psychiatry — and Büchner's source.
- Henrik IbsenPerson · 1828–1906
- Norwegian playwright, often called the father of modern drama. After verse dramas such as Brand and Peer Gynt, he turned to prose plays of contemporary middle-class life.
- A Doll's HousePlay · 1879
- Premiered at the Royal Theatre, Copenhagen. Nora Helmer leaves her husband and children — the final door slam became one of theatre's most debated moments. Some German productions initially required an altered, reconciled ending.
- GhostsPlay · 1881
- Ibsen's attack on duty, hypocrisy and inherited disease (syphilis). Banned and condemned in much of Europe; its first performance was in Chicago in 1882, in Norwegian.
- An Enemy of the PeoplePlay · 1882
- Dr. Stockmann reveals that the town baths are contaminated and is branded a public enemy. A study of majority opinion versus inconvenient truth.
- Hedda GablerPlay · 1890
- A brilliant, trapped woman in a stifling marriage. A defining psychological role for actresses ever since.
- RealismIdea · mid–late 19th c.
- Theatre depicting everyday life, ordinary speech and contemporary social problems, usually within a 'fourth wall' box set.
- NaturalismIdea · 1870s–1890s
- A sharper form of realism shaped by Zola: character as the product of heredity and environment. Strindberg's Miss Julie (1888) is a key example.
- The Well-Made PlayIdea · 19th c.
- Scribe's tightly plotted formula of secrets, letters and reversals. Ibsen borrowed its machinery — then used it to expose society rather than resolve it.
- Théâtre LibreEvent · 1887
- André Antoine's Paris theatre, devoted to naturalism; it staged Ghosts in 1890. Followed by the Freie Bühne (Berlin, 1889) and the Moscow Art Theatre (1898).
- FragmentIdea · —
- Woyzeck's open, episodic structure anticipates Expressionism, Brecht's epic theatre and film montage.