A monologue from the play spring awakening by frank wedekind. This onepage guide includes a plot summary and brief analysis of spring awakening by frank wedekind. Wendla bergmann, a young woman curious about where babies come from and why. The play depicts the troubles of a group of adolescents trying to come to terms with their burgeoning sexual desires and. For the better part of the twentieth century wedekind s intense body of work was largely unpublished and rarely performed. The latter play is most known today because of its use as the basis for the musical with book and lyrics by steven sater and music by duncan sheik. Spring awakening is frank wedekind s most popular play and one of seminal dramatic works of late 19th century literature. Wedekind s spring awakening given new life by franzens translation and stevens direction in the daily gazette. First performed in 1906, german playwright frank wedekind s classic theatrical work. Supersummary, a modern alternative to sparknotes and cliffsnotes, offers highquality study guides that feature detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, quotes, and essay topics. The personal difficulties everybody has to face, however, are made unbearable, if nobody speaks about sex. Where wedekind gives her an ophelialike morning after, our young heroine celebrates in song the sweet unknown world shes just discovered. This version of frank wedekinds extraordinary play spring awakening was specially commissioned by the royal shakespeare company.
Wedekind s play about adolescent sexuality is as disturbing today as when it was first produced wedekind s notorious play spring awakening was written in 1891 but had to wait the greater part of a century before it received its first complete performance in britain, at the national theatre in 1974. Banned sex play now a teenage hit this article is more than 11 years old written in the 1890s, censored in the 1960s, tale of young desire spring awakening is back on stage as a musical. Spring awakening download ebook pdf, epub, tuebl, mobi. The plot follows three young people in a provincial german village in the 1890s. Yet the plays subject matterteenage desire, suicide, abortion, and homosexualityis as. The plot lacks a clear structure, and many of the characters are indistinguishable from.
Frank wedekind was the great rebel of european theatre, best known for spring awakening and the lulu plays. The production was highly praised, much of its strength deriving from this translation by edward. Fruhlings erwachen also translated as spring s awakening and the awakening of spring is the german dramatist frank wedekind s first major play and a seminal work in the modern history of theatre. Inspired by frank wedekind s oncebanned and still provocative german play from 1891, spring awakening holds up a mirror to our own time and has established itself as a mustsee musical of a new generation. The awakening of spring work by wedekind britannica. The themes it addresses and the sheer energy of the writing make this. As everybody knows, puberty is not a well of undiluted joy.
It depicts the struggles of a group of pubertal adolescents trying to come to terms with their burgeoning sexual desires. Spring awakening by frank wedekind, 9780865479784, download free ebooks, download free pdf epub ebook. Its fourteenyearold heroine, wendla, is killed by abortion pills. Spring awakening, which opened last night at the atlantic theater company, is an adaptation of the oncescandalous 1891 play by frank wedekind, the german playwright who is. Other articles where the awakening of spring is discussed. Full text of the awakening of spring a tragedy of childhood see other formats. A childrens tragedy is a sharp indictment of a repressive society that keeps its children in ignorance about puberty, sex, and sexuality.
This pdf contains the full english text of the lulu plays by frank wedekind as well as his play spring awakening. The awakening of spring by frank wedekind free at loyal. From the top of act two, we wanted to see wendla confusedly awakening to her own womanhood, owning her lovemaking, claiming her part of the pleasure. Actors can create a free profile as well as directors, casting directors, producers and agentsmanagers.
This play was mired in controversy back in the day, due to its subject matter. Dramaturgy packet university of wisconsinla crosse. The project gutenberg ebook of the awakening of spring, by frank wedekind this ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. The censorship of frank wedekinds spring awakening. Free kindle book and epub digitized and proofread by project gutenberg.
You may copy it, give it away or reuse it under the terms of the project gutenberg license included with this ebook or online at. The young moritz, terrorized by the world around him, and especially by his. A casting calls, auditions resource and talent database. It was being banned from being performed in germany until 1906. Frank wedekind s controversial 1891 play spring awakening which follows a group of young german teens who struggle through their newly discovered sexual feelings without any guidance from their parents, which proves to be fatal for some characters was subject to censorship for practically a century. Spring awakening tells a story of adolescent love, the trials of puberty and the friendships built in the face of an uncomprehending world. The plan emerged after the third scene and was compiled from my own personal experiences or the experiences of my classmates. For the better part of the twentieth century wedekind s. Eventually, wedekind returned to munich where he attempted to make a living off of acting. Wedekind wrote spring awakening in 1981 and described his process in writing spring awakening as, i started to write, without any sort of plan, merely aiming to set down whatever appeared to me. Spring awakening addresses a large number of loosely related themes primarily through a series of dialogues. Successfully produced by max reinhardt in 1905, the play is a series of brief scenes, some poetic and tender, others harsh and frank, dealing with the awakening of sexuality in three adolescents.
It was written sometime between autumn 1890 and spring 1891, but did not receive its first performance until 20 november 1906 when it premiered at the deutsches theater. In spring awakening wedekind not only dramatizes one such suicide, but also critiques the damaging effects of authoritarian, paternalistic culture. Spring awakening by frank wedekind pdf free download ebook. Spring awakening is considered to be the play that established wedekind as a serious dramatist. In musik he delivers a blistering attack on middleclass hyprocrisy and doublestandards. The project gutenberg ebook of the awakening of spring, by. A social and cultural argument written before its time, spring awakening. Comparsion between the play and musical spring awakening. Expressionism as artistic form spring awakening dramaturgy. Yet the plays subject matterteenage desire, suicide, abortion, and. On a blustery spring day not long afterward, wendla, thea, and martha exchange confidences on the subjects of parental tyranny, love. Wedekin spring awakening moritz monologue drawn from a dialogue between two teenage boys in frank wedekind s spring s awakening, this 12 minute monologue comes from a young man named moritz. In it he employs a fragmented dramatic structure that functions as a montage of contrapuntal motifs ranging from the poetic to the grotesque, the realistic to the fantastic, and the sentimental to the bizarre.