View source for Woyzeck

{{Short description|1836 play fragment by Georg Büchner}}
{{Distinguish|Wozzeck}}
{{Other uses}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2012}}
{{More citations needed|date=March 2010}}
{{Infobox play
| name =    Woyzeck
| image = 
| image_size =
| caption =
| writer =    [[Georg Büchner]]
| chorus =
| characters =   Woyzeck<br />Marie<br />Andres <br /> Louis<br />Margret<br /> Karl<br /> Captain<br />Doctor<br />Drum Major<br /> Apprentices<br />Children<br />People<br />Grandmother
| mute =
| setting =
| date of premiere =   8 November 1913
| country of Origin =
| original language =   German
| series =
| subject = 
| genre =
| web =
}}

'''''Woyzeck''''' ({{IPA|de|ˈvɔʏtsɛk}}) is a [[stage play]] written by [[Georg Büchner]]. Büchner wrote the play between July and October 1836, yet left it incomplete at his death in February 1837. The play first appeared in 1877 in a heavily edited version by [[Karl Emil Franzos]],<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Caplan |first=Marc |date=Fall 2019 |title=Woyzeck or Wozzeck? Karl-Emil Franzos and Border Lines between Eastern Europe and German Culture |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/2522855942 |journal=Jewish Social Studies |volume=25 |pages=2, 17 |doi=10.2979/jewisocistud.25.1.05 |s2cid=208689602 |id={{ProQuest|2522855942}} |url-access=subscription }}</ref> and was first performed at the [[Residence Theatre]] in [[Munich]] on 8 November 1913.

Since then, ''Woyzeck'' has become one of the most influential and most often-performed German plays. Due to its unfinished nature, the play has inspired many diverging adaptations.

==Composition and textual history==
Büchner probably began writing the play between June and September 1836. It is loosely based on the true story of [[Johann Christian Woyzeck]], a [[Leipzig]] wigmaker who later became a soldier. In 1821, Woyzeck, in a fit of jealousy, murdered Christiane Woost, a 46-year-old widow with whom he had been living; he was later [[Public execution|publicly beheaded]].<ref name=":1" /> Büchner's work remained in a fragmentary state at the time of his early death in 1837.

The play was first made public in a heavily edited and augmented version by [[Karl Emil Franzos]], who published it in periodicals in 1875 and 1877, before including it in his edition of Büchner's collected works in 1879.<ref name=":0">Richards, David G.  (2001). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=IpPr5KPcVngC&pg=PA6&lpg=PA2 Georg Büchner's Woyzeck: A History of Its Criticism]''. Rochester, NY: Camden House. p. 2-3. {{ISBN|9781571132208}}.</ref> Franzos mistakenly understood the title character's name in the manuscripts as "Wozzeck";<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Caplan |first=Marc |date=Fall 2019 |title=Woyzeck or Wozzeck? Karl-Emil Franzos and Border Lines between Eastern Europe and German Culture |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/2522855942 |journal=Jewish Social Studies |volume=25 |pages=1, 3 |doi=10.2979/jewisocistud.25.1.05 |s2cid=208689602 |id={{ProQuest|2522855942}} |url-access=subscription }}</ref> the play bore that title in its first stage productions, and in subsequent published editions based on Franzos' version. The play was not performed until November 8, 1913 at the Residenztheater, [[Munich]], where it was produced by [[Max Reinhardt]].

Not only did Franzos have to cope with Büchner's "microscopically small" handwriting, but the pages had faded so badly that they had to be chemically treated to make the text decipherable at all. Franzos was unaware of the real-life basis of the drama. The play was first generally disseminated in 1921 through the appearance of a new edition, edited by Georg Witkowski, which introduced the corrected title ''Woyzeck''.<ref name=Perle>George Perle ''The Operas of Alban Berg: Volume I/Wozzeck'', University of California Press, Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1980, pp. 25–31.</ref>

==Plot summary==
Franz Woyzeck, a lonely soldier stationed in a provincial German town, is living with Marie, the mother of his child who is not blessed by the church as the child was born out of wedlock. 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. At one of these experiments, the Doctor tells Woyzeck that he must eat nothing but peas. 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 (military)|drum major]] who, in an ambiguous scene taking place in Marie's bedroom, sleeps with her.

With his jealous suspicions growing, Woyzeck confronts the drum major, who beats Woyzeck up and humiliates him. Finally, Woyzeck stabs Marie to death by a pond. While a third act trial is claimed by some, notably A. H. J. Knight and Fritz Bergemann, to have been part of the original conception (what may be the beginning of a courtroom scene survives), the fragment, as left by Büchner, ends with Woyzeck disposing of the knife in the pond while trying to clean himself of the blood.

Here Franzos inserted the stage direction "ertrinkt" (he drowns), and although this emendation according to Knight "almost amounts to a forgery", most versions employ drowning as an appropriate resolution to the story.<ref name=Perle/>

==Notable productions==
Since the original play was unfinished, many productions have taken liberties with the play's dialogue and scene order. Notable productions include:
* a 1913 first production at [[Residence Theatre|residenztheater]], Munich, directed by Eugen Kilian
* a 1925 opera adaptation by [[Alban Berg|Alan Berg]]
* a 1969 stage adaptation at the [[Royal Dramatic Theatre]] in Stockholm directed by [[Ingmar Bergman]] starring [[Thommy Berggren]]. The translation Bergman used was by Per Erik Wahlund, and in 1970 the translation was published by Sällskapet Bokvännerna, in Stockholm, with 24 woodcuts by the Swedish artist [[Torsten Billman]].
* In the 1975 staging by the [[Classic Stage Company]] starring [[Ron Perlman]], Christopher Martin "stressed the fluidity of the play's movement, and its sullen realism" according to [[Clive Barnes]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1975/04/13/archives/the-theater-woyzeck-19thcentury-drama-staged-by-the-csc.html|last=Barnes|first=Clive|title=The Theatre: 'Woyzeck': 19th-Century Drama Staged by the CSC|work=New York Times|date=April 13, 1975|page=58}}</ref>
* a [[Woyzeck_(1979_film)|1979 film]] directed by Werner Herzog
* a 1990 stage adaptation at Hartford Stage directed by [[Richard Foreman]] starring [[David Patrick Kelly]]
* a 1997 stage version by [[Keith Fowler]].  Fowler prepared his own translation for the ''Woyzeck'' he directed at the University of California, Irvine.  In considering the traditional arrangements of scenes — whether to start with the scene in which Woyzeck is shaving his captain, the doctor's lecture, or when Woyzeck is in the woods and hears voices below the ground; and whether to end with Woyzeck's trial or his drowning — Fowler notes how each arrangement makes a different thematic statement, viz.:
** Start: Shaving / End: Trial / Statement: Oppression of the lower classes by those in power.
** Start: Woods / End: Drowning / Statement: Deranged Woyzeck destroys himself.
** Start: Lecture / End: Drowning / Statement: Society disregards Woyzeck's humanity, eventually discards him...
** Start: Lecture / End: Trial / Statement: ...or judges him.
*: But, as Fowler also comments, what truly counts is "the totality of Büchner's world, for however the scenes are arranged, we will still have what G. Wilson Knight calls the 'burning core' of the drama...."<ref>Knight, G. Wilson,  ''Principles of Shakespearean Production'',  Faber and Faber, London, 1936, cited in Fowler Keith, ''Woyzeck: a Director's Play'', https://eee.uci.edu/13f/03260</ref>
* production of the play by [[Vesturport]], an Iceland-based theatre company, directed by [[Gísli Örn Garðarsson]].
* A November 2002 Cape Cod Community College production, adapted and directed by Victor Warren<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.capecodtimes.com/article/20021102/NEWS01/311029956 |title='Woyzeck' poses a dark challenge |first=Diana |last=Kenney |date=November 2, 2002 |work=Cape Cod Times}}</ref>
* a 2007 production at the Carnegie Mellon University School of Drama, ''Woyzeck'' was re-worked by Director Dan Rigazzi to take place in 1951 and reflect themes of racial pressure in the army. Also, with the help of the Carnegie Mellon University German Language Department, pieces of the original Clarus Report were translated to English and incorporated in the text and structure of the production.
* A play in 2009 at the Malthouse Theatre, Melbourne, Australia. Director Michael Kantor with Music by Nick Cave & Warren Ellis
* Production of the play by Toto Funds the Arts and Rafiki; adapted and directed by Anmol Vellani (India)
* A modernized version of ''Woyzeck'' played by the Belgian theatre group [[NTGent]] and Toneelgroep Ceremonia in fall 2010. The director, Eric De Volder, died the night after the première.
* ''Woyzeck'', a 2010 [[Cameri Theater]] Tel-Aviv production, translated into Hebrew by Dori Parnas, edited and directed by [[Itay Tiran]], who also stars as Woyzeck. Tiran's version sets the action in a psychiatric hospital and features Hebrew translations of songs by Tom Waits.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.habama.co.il/Pages/Event.aspx?Subj=1&Area=1&EventID=28271|title=תיאטרון - וויצק (הקאמרי)|website=www.habama.co.il|access-date=November 23, 2018}}</ref>
* A 2012 re-translation by Campbell Babson and directed by Ben Roberts took place at The Headwaters Theatre in [[Portland, Oregon]].
* ''Woyzeck'', a free adaptation by [[Neil LaBute]] that premiered at the Virginia Tech School of Performing Arts and Cinema on November 1, 2012 and ran through November 11, 2012. The adaptation was directed by 3-time OBIE winner Bob McGrath.
* A 2014 adaptation by Dylan Gamblin performed by Ghostlight Theater Company of New England in collaboration with die Karneval von Wahnsinn.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://caughtintheactnh.blogspot.com/2014/04/woyzeck-ghostlight-theatre-company-of.html|title=Woyzeck  Ghostlight Theatre Company of New England|access-date=November 23, 2018}}</ref>
* An adaptation of the play set in 1980s Berlin, adapted by [[Jack Thorne]], played at the [[Old Vic Theatre]] in 2017. It starred [[John Boyega]] as Woyzeck.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2017-05-23 |title=Woyzeck review – John Boyega shines as traumatised soldier in 80s Berlin |url=http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2017/may/24/woyzeck-review-john-boyega-jack-thorne-georg-buchner-old-vic-london |access-date=2022-10-06 |website=the Guardian |language=en}}</ref>
* In 2018 playwright [[Leo Butler]]'s adaptation, according to [[The Stage]] newspaper, "preserves the absurd logic of the original amidst uber-contemporary references to drone strikes, automation, data privacy and fast food chains".  It was directed by Roxana Silbert for the [[Birmingham Repertory Theatre]], with a 100-strong cast.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Kulvichit |first1=Ben |title=Woyzeck review at Birmingham Repertory Theatre – 'joyous and complex' |url=https://www.thestage.co.uk/reviews/2018/woyzeck-review-birmingham-repertory-theatre/ |access-date=24 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180620173909/https://www.thestage.co.uk/reviews/2018/woyzeck-review-birmingham-repertory-theatre/ |archive-date=June 20, 2018 |location=Birmingham |language=en |date=Jun 20, 2018}}</ref>
* A 2018 adaptation by renowned ensemble physical theatre company Spies Like Us<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.spieslikeustheatre.com/ |title = Spies Like Us Theatre}}</ref> debuted at [[The Pleasance]] on August 1. The production was praised for its "contemporary intensity",<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://edinburghfestival.list.co.uk/article/103302-woyzeck/|title=Woyzeck|date=August 22, 2018}}</ref> and featured just five actors, five buckets and a crate.
* ''Woyzeck, Inc.'', a translation and adaption by Thomas Wolber and Logan Kovach, premiered at [[Ohio Wesleyan University]] in March 2021. The adaptation took the source material of the play and transported it to a [[distribution center]] owned by the fictional company Primedia, in a vocal [[criticism of Amazon]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.owu.edu/woyzeck-inc-information/|title = 'Woyzeck, Inc.' Information}}</ref>

==Adaptations==
The many adaptations of ''Woyzeck'' include:
* ''[[Wozzeck]]'', an opera by [[Alban Berg]], completed 1922, premiered in Berlin in December 1925.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/art/2009/10/145_3381|title=Unknown|date=January 21, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200121142357/https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/art/2009/10/145_3381 |archive-date=January 21, 2020 }}</ref>
* ''[[Wozzeck (Gurlitt)|Wozzeck]]'', an opera by [[Manfred Gurlitt]], premiered in Bremen in April 1926.
* ''[[Wozzeck (film)|Wozzeck]]'', a 1947 film by [[Georg C. Klaren]]
* ''[[Woyzeck (1979 film)|Woyzeck]]'', a 1979 film by [[Werner Herzog]]
* ''[[Wodzeck]]'', a 1984 film by [[Oliver Herbrich]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://oliver-herbrich.wixsite.com/archiv/wodzeck |title=Wodzeck – official film website |access-date=25 September 2019}}</ref>
* ''[[Different Drummer (ballet)|Different Drummer]]'', a 1984 one-act ballet by [[Kenneth MacMillan]]
* ''[[Woyzeck (1994 film)|Woyzeck]]'', a 1994 film by [[János Szász]]
* ''[[Woyzeck (musical)|Woyzeck]]'', a musical conceived by [[Robert Wilson (director)|Robert Wilson]], with lyrics and music by [[Tom Waits]] and [[Kathleen Brennan]]; the songs from which are on Waits's ''[[Blood Money (Tom Waits album)|Blood Money]]'' album
* ''[[Re: Woyzeck]]'', a modernized play by [[Jeremy Gable]] (in which Georg Büchner becomes a character in his own play)
* ''[[The Drowned Man|The Drowned Man: A Hollywood Fable]]'', a production by [[Punchdrunk (theatre company)|Punchdrunk]] based on ''Woyzeck'' but set in a 1960s film studio. The production ran from 20 June 2013 – 6 July 2014.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/shows/the-drowned-man-a-hollywood-fable |title=The Drowned Man: A Hollywood Fable &#124; A Punchdrunk production at Temple Studios |access-date=2014-04-11 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140412193052/http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/shows/the-drowned-man-a-hollywood-fable |archive-date=April 12, 2014 |df=mdy-all }}</ref>
* ''[[Please!]]'', performance and puppet show by Felicia Cooper, completed 2025, premiered in Minneapolis at the Red Eye Theater.<ref>{{Cite web|url= https://redeyetheater.org/performances/please-felicia-cooper | title=Please! By Felicia Cooper| date=September 27, 2025}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{gutenberg|no=5322|name=Woyzeck}} {{in lang|de}}

{{Georg Büchner}}
{{Woyzeck}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:1836 plays]]
[[Category:Plays by Georg Büchner]]
[[Category:Plays set in Germany]]
[[Category:Unfinished plays]]
[[Category:German plays adapted into films]]
[[Category:Plays set in the 19th century]]
[[Category:Plays based on real people]]
[[Category:Plays adapted into operas]]