Georg Kaiser

Georg Kaiser: Von morgens bis mitternachts. Ein expressionistisches Stationendrama Lesefreundlicher Gro druck in 16-pt-Schrift Gro format, 210 x 297 mm Berliner Ausgabe, 2020 Durchgesehener Neusatz bearbeitet und eingerichtet von Theodor Borken Entstanden: 1912. Erstdruck: G. M ller, M nchen, 1916. Urauff hrung: 28. April 1917, M nchen. Der Text dieser Ausgabe wurde behutsam an die neue deutsche Rechtschreibung angepasst. Umschlaggestaltung von Thomas Schultz-Overhage unter Verwendung des Bildes: Szene aus dem Stummfilm Von Morgens bis Mitternachts von 1920. Gesetzt aus der Minion Pro, 16 pt. Henricus Edition Deutsche Klassik UG (haftungsbeschr nkt)

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

Georg Kaiser: Von morgens bis mitternachts. Ein expressionistisches Stationendrama Entstanden: 1912. Erstdruck: G. M ller, M nchen, 1916. Urauff hrung: 28. April 1917, M nchen. Neuausgabe. Herausgegeben von Karl-Maria Guth. Berlin 2020. Der Text dieser Ausgabe wurde behutsam an die neue deutsche Rechtschreibung angepasst. Umschlaggestaltung von Thomas Schultz-Overhage unter Verwendung des Bildes: Szene aus dem Stummfilm Von Morgens bis Mitternachts von 1920. Gesetzt aus der Minion Pro, 11 pt.

Georg Kaiser: Von morgens bis mitternachts. Ein expressionistisches Stationendrama Entstanden: 1912. Erstdruck: G. M ller, M nchen, 1916. Urauff hrung: 28. April 1917, M nchen. Neuausgabe. Herausgegeben von Karl-Maria Guth. Berlin 2020. Der Text dieser Ausgabe wurde behutsam an die neue deutsche Rechtschreibung angepasst. Umschlaggestaltung von Thomas Schultz-Overhage unter Verwendung des Bildes: Szene aus dem Stummfilm Von Morgens bis Mitternachts von 1920. Gesetzt aus der Minion Pro, 11 pt.

"These five plays provide an excellent introduction to Kaiser’s vision of the regeneration of man, which he illustrated in his works by a total paring down of detail, penetrating to the core of the matter and revealing man’s true potential. In From Morning to Midnight the cashier, downtrodden victim of the capitalist system, turns bank robber in order to test the power, freedom and happiness that money can bring. His grand gesture of setting himself and others free turns into an odyssey of disillusion and ends in his violent death. The unique stage technique employed by Kaiser is as challenging today as it was when the play was first performed. The Burghers of Calais has always been considered Kaiser’s greatest play and the “classic” of Expressionist drama. In it, Kaiser exploits the non-naturalistic technique of Expressionism. The play embraces vast expansiveness and total concentration, stylized gesture and lengthy monologues."

"This second volume of plays by Georg Kaiser contains five plays ranging from his early work through the time of his prolific maturity in the 1920s to his last period as an exile in Switzerland, where he died in 1945. David and Goliath is set in Denmark and deals with the power of money over men. The President, set in France, is ironical in tone and revolves around a lottery and, once again, the power of money. The Flight to Venice was written at the height of the Expressionist movement in 1922, and is one of the principal plays of the period. One Day in October is highly complex, using nineteenth-century French literary personalities to make points about literary creation and the relationship between art and life. The final play, The Raft of the Medusa, takes its title from Gericault’s painting, and concerns the regeneration of man overlaid with the pessimism of the European struggle."

From Morning To Midnight, among the most frequently performed German Expressionist works, charts the life of a cashier who steals money from the bank and flees to Berlin. The un-named protagonist's bid to escape his middle-class daily life is ultimately frustrated. It is a popular piece in which Kaiser satirized the cheapness and futility of modern society. His hero, a kind of machine-age Everyman, searches everywhere for some kind of fulfilment - in commercial sex, in salvationist religion - but discovers through a series of nightmarish episodes that the world is deceitful and illusory. In the end, disillusioned and pursued by the police, he takes his own life. This new version by Dennis Kelly, opened at the National Theatre's Lyttelton Theatre in November 2013, as part of the National’s 50th Anniversary Season.

This volume contains seven plays, written between 1906 and 1926, which demonstrate the basic forms, tenets and preoccupations of German Expressionist drama, which has been described as the forerunner of Absurdist theatre and is characterized by both visual and verbal violence. These plays, taken together, offer an excellent introduction to the entire movement. Kokoschka's "Murderer, Hope of Womankind", for example, has that strong ritualistic quality which characterizes so many other Expressionist writings, and Stramm's terrifying "Awakening" recalls the threatening absurdities of Ionesco's theatre. These plays, with their visionary elements and their timeless quality, speak as clearly to audiences today as they did at the time of their creation.