Woyzeck

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This article is about the stage play. For the 1979 Werner Herzog film, see Woyzeck (1979 film).

Klaus Kinski in Werner Herzog's Woyzeck

Woyzeck is a stage play written by Georg Büchner. He left the work incomplete at his death, but it has been variously and posthumously "finished" by a variety of authors, editors and translators. Woyzeck has become one of the most performed and influential plays in the German theatre repertory.

Büchner probably began writing the play between June and September 1836. It remained in a fragmentary state at the time of his early death in 1837. Woyzeck was first published in 1879 in a heavily reworked version by Karl Emil Franzos. It received its first performance on November 8 1913 at the Residezentheater, Munich.

Woyzeck concerns the dehumanising effects of doctors, the military, and women on a young man's life. It is often seen as 'working class' tragedy. The play is loosely based on the true story of Johann Christian Woyzeck, a Leipzig wigmaker who murdered Christiane Woost, a widow with whom he had been living, in a fit of jealousy in 1821 and was subsequently publicly decapitated.

1 Plot summary
2 Commentary
3 Adaptations
4 External links

[edit] Plot summary

Franz Woyzeck, a lowly soldier stationed in a provincial German town, is the father of an illegitimate child by his mistress Marie. Woyzeck earns extra money for his family by performing menial jobs for the Captain and agreeing to take part in medical experiments conducted by the Doctor. As one of these experiments, the Doctor tells Woyzeck he must eat nothing but peas. It is obvious that Woyzeck's mental health is breaking down and he begins to experience a series of apocalyptic visions. Meanwhile, Marie grows tired of Woyzeck and turns her attentions to a handsome drum-major. With his jealous suspicions growing, Woyzeck confronts the drum-major, who beats him up and humiliates him. Finally, Woyzeck stabs Marie to death by a pool. The original play fragment by Büchner ends with Woyzeck disposing of the knife in the pool, although most renditions, including Werner Herzog's movie, extrapolate this with him drowning while trying to hide the knife in even deeper waters.

[edit] Commentary

Woyzeck is a comment on social conditions as well as an exploration of complex themes such as poverty. Woyzeck is considered as morally lacking by other characters of higher status, such as the Captain, particularly in the scene in which Woyzeck shaves the Captain. The Captain links wealth and status with morality suggesting Woyzeck cannot have morals as he is poor. It is the exploitation of the character Woyzeck by the Doctor and the Captain which ultimately pushes him over the edge.

[edit] Adaptations

The many adaptations of Woyzeck include an opera by Alban Berg (Wozzeck), a movie by Werner Herzog (Woyzeck), a musical by Robert Wilson and Tom Waits, the songs from which are on Waits's Blood Money album, a modernized play entitled "Re: Woyzeck" by Jeremy Gable (in which Georg Buchner becomes a character in his own play) and the play "Skin" by Naomi Iizuka. Nick Cave has also written music for a production of the play by Vesturport, an Iceland-based theatre company.