Woyzeck (Oberon Modern Plays) - Softcover

Georg Büchner; Adapted By Nick Cave

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1840026413 ISBN 13: 9781840026412

Publisher: Oberon Books, 2005

Synopsis

"Written shortly before his death at the age of twenty three, Georg Buchner's Woyzeck is often described as the first 'modern' play. It tells the story of a poor soldier manipulated and abused by his 'superiors', turned into a specimen for cruel experimentation at the hands of the medical establishment, and finally betrayed by the woman he loves, with devastating consequences. In this new adaptation of Buchner's fragmented and visceral text, with original lyrics by Nick Cave, Icelandic director Gisli orn Gardarsson transposes the story to an inhuman industrial landscape, and fiercely reimagines the play's potent fusion of naturalism and expressionism."

About this title

Review:

Büchner's play is amazing, written in the 19th century but widely regarded as the first truly "modern" drama. It was based on the real-life case of a barber who stabbed his mistress in a fit of jealousy and was sentenced to death in 1821. A classic study, you might think, of violence prompted by sexual rage. But in Büchner's fragmented scenes it becomes something else altogether: a naturalistic tragedy, a damning social critique, a lower-class King Lear, a debate on free will and determinism. Hold it up to the light and it always takes on a different colour. --Guardian

Synopsis:

This work is an adaptation from German into Icelandic by orn Gardarsson, translated from Icelandic into English by Little and Atli. Buchner's "Woyzeck" charts the downfall of a simple man struggling to make the best from what life has dealt him. Woyzeck's fate is played out in a series of nightmarish encounters. He stumbles through a world of macabre carnival, sexual betrayal and cruel oppression, pursued by the demons of his paranoid fantasies. Pushed beyond breaking point Woyzeck's last love-crazed act tragically destroys the only thing he cares for.

About this edition

• Publisher: Oberon Books
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 1840026413
• ISBN 13: 9781840026412
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 64