The First German Theatre (Routledge Revivals)

Book excerpt: First published in 1990. The book surveys of the development of German theatre from a market sideshow into an important element of cultural life and political expression. It examines Schiller as �theatre poet� at Mannheim, Goethe�s work as director of the court theatre at Weimar, and then traces the rapid commercial decline that made it difficult for Kleist and impossible for B�chner to see their plays staged in their own lifetime. Four representative texts are analysed: Schiller�s The Robbers, Goethe�s Iphigenia on Tauris, Kleist�s The Prince of Homburg, and B�chner�s Woyzeck. This title will be of interest to students of theatre and German literature.