Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- List of Abbreviations
- Introduction
- 1 Schiller's Gestures: Origins and Contexts
- The Early Plays
- 2 An Experiment in Theater: Die Räuber
- 3 Playing at Politics: Die Verschwörung des Fiesko zu Genua
- 4 Violence and Silence in Domestic Tragedy: Kabale und Liebe
- Transition to the Classical Style
- Gesture in the Later Plays
- Conclusion
- Works Cited
- Index
2 - An Experiment in Theater: Die Räuber
from The Early Plays
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 February 2013
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- List of Abbreviations
- Introduction
- 1 Schiller's Gestures: Origins and Contexts
- The Early Plays
- 2 An Experiment in Theater: Die Räuber
- 3 Playing at Politics: Die Verschwörung des Fiesko zu Genua
- 4 Violence and Silence in Domestic Tragedy: Kabale und Liebe
- Transition to the Classical Style
- Gesture in the Later Plays
- Conclusion
- Works Cited
- Index
Summary
DIE RÄUBER MADE ITS AUTHOR FAMOUS overnight. Though the first production tampered with the contemporary setting, projecting the action back into the sixteenth century, and made a number of other changes to the version Schiller wrote, the effect in the theater was overwhelming. The often-quoted eyewitness report of the premiere tells how the performance physically affected the audience.
Das Theater glich einem Irrenhause, rollende Augen, geballte Fäuste, stampfende Füße, heisere Aufschreie im Zuschauerraum. Fremde Menschen fielen einander schluchzend in die Arme, Frauen wankten, einer Ohnmacht nahe, zur Türe. Es war eine allgemeine Auflösung wie im Chaos, aus dessen Nebeln eine neue Schöpfung hervorbricht.
[The theater resembled a madhouse; rolling eyes, clenched fists, stamping feet, hoarse screams in the auditorium. Strangers fell sobbing into each other's arms, women reeled, near-fainting, toward the door. There was general dissolution as in chaos, from whose mists a new creation bursts forth.]
It is tantalizing to speculate on what aspects of the play triggered these reactions. Was it sympathy for a band of robbers, disgust at Franz Moor's intrigue, outrage at Amalia's murder, or simply Karl Moor's heroic surrender or the spirit of rebellion that the play as a whole exuded? Alan Leidner suggested in 1994 that we were no closer to understanding the play's initial success. But perhaps the role of gesture offers some clues. Die Räuber is a very physical play. Its violent action was clearly a key feature as far as Schiller was concerned.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Schiller the DramatistA Study of Gesture in the Plays, pp. 49 - 71Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2009