On the London stage, Arthur Schnitzler’s reputation rests on versions of four plays – Reigen (La Ronde, The Blue Room), Liebelei (Dalliance, Sweet Nothings), Das weite Land (Undiscovered Country), and Professor Bernhardi.
Join us to explore the challenges of bringing turn-of-the-century Vienna to twenty-first-century London and discover a different side to Schnitzler’s writing – the one-act play Der tapfere Cassian (Gallant Cassian, 1906). Subtitled ‘A Puppet Play’, it can be performed by puppets or, as Schnitzler hoped, by ‘puppetlike’ human actors, and raises far-reaching questions about what it means to be human and how to represent that humanity on stage.
The event is conceived as a workshop with a panel of introductory talks. Group discussions led respectively by translators and theatre practitioners will explore what this remarkable little play has to offer today’s theatre.
‘Adapting Schnitzler’ is organized by the AHRC-funded research project: ‘Critical Digital Edition of Selected Middle-Period Works by Arthur Schnitzler (1862-1931)’. Speakers include Geraldine Brodie (UCL), Katja Krebs (University of Bristol) and members of the project team.
Booking is required as numbers are limited. Participants will be invited to read a short scene of the play, in English or in German, in advance of the event.
