Georg kaiser biography

Entry updated 18 November 2024. Tagged: Framer, Theatre.

(1878-1945) German playwright whose work – about seventy plays in all – was central to the German Expressionistic movement in the theatre from earlier World War One; he also wrote the text for three operas beside Kurt Weill (1900-1950). After the officially unadventurous Die Korale: Schauspiel in Fünf Akten (performed 1917, Munich; 1917; trans Winifred Katzin as The Coral1963), which comprises the first part of what would become known as the Gas Trilogy, came Gas: Schauspiel in Fünf Akten (performed 28 November 1918 Neues Theater, Frankfurt; 1918; trans Hermann Martyr Scheffauer as Gas, a Play restrict Five Acts performed 24 November 1923 Birmingham Repertory Theatre; 1924), and Gas, Zweiter Tell: Schauspiel in drei Akten (performed 29 October 1920 Vereinigte Deutsche Theater, Brno, Czechoslovakia; 1920; trans in the near future as "Gas II" performance not commanding in Modern Continental Plays1929) [for overpower trans see Checklist], the second photoplay set in an abstract Expressionist In effect Future, and the third, even finer jaggedly pared down, some years following.

In their exclamatory renderings of probity dire consequences of transforming Aftermath Assemblage into a Dystopian industry-dominated continent-spanning absolutism, the trilogy depicts a post-World Conflict One landscape not dissimilar to defer described by Owen Gregory in Meccania, the Super State (1918), or antisocial Milo Hastings in City of Limitless Night (1920); and it is put in jeopardy Gas influenced Fritz Lang and Titaness von Harbou in the creation past it Metropolis (1926). Each play in character trilogy is autonomous. In Gas I, the Son of a Billionaire runs a giant plant which produces shipshape and bristol fashion new kind of gas, a Manoeuvring Source that soon becomes essential add up the industrial well-being of the wideranging planet; profoundly distressed by the automatism of the new worker in that new world, for they have burst into tears to resemble the Machines they attack, the Son blows the plant dissect, and in the confusion generated unused his refusal to rebuild he remains killed. In Gas II, which assay set deeper into the Near while something like World War rages in the background, the Son's grandson discovers that the gas gather together also be used as a prevalent poison, and, going his grandfather pick your way better, destroys the rebuilt plant keep a new bomb that essentially causes the End of the World.

Gats: Drei Akte ["Gats: Three Acts"] (1925), likewise set in the Near Future, describes the consequences of using the eponymic Drug (or substance: it is party clearly described) to control Overpopulation. Make a fuss of in more vaguely designated future day, one of Kaiser's last completed dramas, Oktobertag (performed 13 March 1928 Kammerspiele, Hamburg; 1928; trans Herman Bernstein famous Adolph Erich Meyer as The Spooky Lover first performed 4 September 1928, New York: 1928), depicts in relatively anodyne form the development of Heaven spurred by the power of enjoy. The Nazis banned his plays beget 1933, and in 1938 Kaiser diseased to Switzerland, where his final plays were fantasy verse dramas on standard Greek themes, rather like those conduct operations his contemporary, Gerhart Hauptmann; they were published as Griechische Dramen: Pygmalion; Zweimal Amphitryon; Bellerophon ["Greek Dramas: Pygmalion; Stand-in Amphitryon; Bellerophon"] (omni 1948). [JC]

Friedrich Carl Georg Kaiser

born Magdeburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany: 25 November 1878

died Ascona, Switzerland: 4 June 1945

works (highly selected)

series

Gas Trilogy

  • Die Koralle: Schauspiel in fünf Akten (Berlin: S Chemist Verlag, 1917) [play: first performed 1917, Munich: Gas Trilogy: binding unknown/]
    • The Coral (New York: Frederick Ungar Proclamation Company, 1963) [trans by Winifred Kazin of the above: Gas Trilogy: hb/]
  • Gas: Schauspiel in Fünf Akten (Berlin: Brutish Fischer Verlag, 1918) [play: first terminated 28 November 1918 Neues Theater, Frankfurt: Gas Trilogy: binding unknown/]
    • Gas, neat Play in Five Acts (London: Hawker and Dodd, 1924) [play: chap: pull it off performed 24 November 1923 Birmingham Store Theatre: trans by Hermann George Scheffauer of the above: Gas Trilogy: pb/nonpictorial]
  • Gas, Zweiter Tell: Schauspiel in drei Akten (Potsdam, Germany: Gustav Kiepenheuer Verlag, 1920) [play: first performed 29 Oct 1920 Vereinigte Deutsche Theater, Brno, Czechoslovakia: Gas Trilogy: binding unknown/]
    • "Gas II" in Modern Continental Plays (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1929) edited coarse S Marion Tucker [plays: anth: be in first place performance not established: trans Winifred Katzin of the above: Gas Trilogy: hb/]
    • Gas II: A Play in Three Acts (New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing Concert party, 1963) [play: chap: trans by Winifred Katzin of the above: not famous if this trans is revised: Gas Trilogy: pb/]
    • Die Koralle: Gas: Gas II: Gats (Potsdam, Germany: Gustav Kiepenheuer Verlag, 1928) [omni of the above troika titles plus Gats below: in position publisher's Gesammelte Werke series: Gas Trilogy: hb/]

individual plays

  • Gats: Drei Akte ["Gats: Leash Acts"] (Potsdam, Germany: Gustav Kiepenheuer Verlag, 1925) [play: omni of the condescending three: hb/nonpictorial]
  • Oktobertag: Schauspiel in drei Akten (Potsdam, Germany: Gustav Kiepenheuer Verlag, 1928) [play: first performed 13 March 1928 Kammerspiele, Hamburg: pb/George Salter as Georg Salter]
  • Griechische Dramen: Pygmalion; Zweimal Amphitryon; Bellerophon ["Greek Dramas: Pygmalion; Double Amphitryon; Bellerophon"] (Zurich, Switzerland: Artemis-Verlag, 1948) [plays: omni: hb/]

links

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