Ernst Toller (1893-1939)
began writing his first play in 1917, after having served in the German army
and then being discharged as “unfit for active service”. In 1914 he enlisted in the First Bavarian
Foot Artillery Regimen and he was a patriotic enthusiast of the war effort. He
served on front-line duty, which he volunteered for, from March 1915 to May
1916. It was this experience that initially altered his political beliefs and led
him to write Die Wandlung (Transformation), an anti-war drama.
Transformation
is a unique antiwar drama, since it is a multi-topic play that goes beyond the
issue of ceasing the senseless slaughter of mankind. This play begins with the
traditional type of direct anti-war message.
The issue grows beyond the suffering inflicted by war until it condemns many
forms of human suffering. Finally the play segues into improving human conditions
by making a political commitment to Socialism.
During the time Toller
was working on this play, he was also going through his own transformation. His
transformation mirrors that of the play’s protagonist, Friedrich. In 1918 Toller
strongly believed that a radical transformation of German society was about to
occur.
Toller stated in 1917
that he considered the early draft of Transformation
as a political pamphlet. He said that before he even finished writing
this play he handed out scene five, “The Hospital”, and scene six, “The Maimed”. He also read these two scenes at strike
meetings in Heidelberg and Berlin to help spread his anti-war activism. He
continued to hand out “The Hospital” into the beginning of 1918. His motivation was to continue working for
peace and civil liberties.
Gustav Landauer’s
manifesto, Call to Socialism,
was published in 1911. Toller read this publication during the summer of
1917 and his political thinking began to expand beyond antiwar demonstrations. Landauer, (1870-1919) a significant German theorist on anarchism,
believed that it was the duty of poets and thinkers to help the rest of the
population understand the need for a new political reality. Landauer’s ideas were in harmony with those
individuals connected to the Expressionism movement. Toller, who was already an advocate for
Expressionism, readily accepted Landauer basic ideas.
Toller’s physical
participation into the burgeoning revolutionary movement came after meeting
other revolutionaries. It was Kurt Eisner (1867-1919), a German politician and
journalist, who convinced Toller to participate in the Munich munitions workers
strike. After Toller’s experience in
Munich and while he was in prison for his strike related participation, he expanded
the thesis of Transformation to
embrace his new Socialistic ideology.
Cecil Davies in his book The Plays of Ernst Toller: A Revaluation discusses
how Toller’s new political views are incorporated into the play’s progression. Toller
presses his antiwar message through the first seven scenes of the play. Scenes eight through ten focus on Friedrich
becoming more human rather than serving merely as a symbol. The rest of the
storyline, scenes eleven through thirteen, portrays Friedrich becoming a
political speaker and motivator for others to implement social change. Davies states that Toller’s “pattern by which
social change takes place is that an unusually gifted individual undergoes some
kind of personal ‘conversion’ which he transmits to the masses.” This concept, Davies asserts, is derived
directly from Landauer. So the reader/audience experiences Friedrich’s
transformation as it occurs in the script. Therefore, Transformation, the antiwar play, is also drama as political
action.
This play belongs to
an additional theatre tradition. Toller divided his script into thirteen
scenes. Instead of having these scenes separated
into acts, Toller used the medieval religious dramatic tradition of having the
play divided into “Stations” for its major units of organization. The term “Station” harkens back to The Stations of the Cross. The use of Station as a dramatic unit comes with
various associations such as Christ connection to Station Drama. It is also
connected to Christ’s progression towards an understanding of his earthly activities
and his growth as a religious figure. Transformation is divided into six
Stations. Each Station is designated by
its number while each scene is also assigned a number and often a specific
title such as “FIRST STATION, Second
Scene, ‘Troop Trains’”. So the
reader/audience member sees Friedrich’s advancement toward his enlightenment
and newly acquired activism as akin to a religious understanding.
There is one more
organizational element related to the structure of the play to be considered. Transformation has “A Prologue, which
can also be thought of as Epilogue.” This section is titled “Barracks of the
Dead”. The title makes sense once the
characters are identified by name—War-Death, Peace-Death and Skeletons and the
location is revealed. The time is Night and the location is a vast Military Graveyard.
The character names, setting as well as time of night are common to German
Expressionistic plays of this era. The time and setting are similar to the
beginning of Fritz von Unruh’s play Ein
Geschlecht (A Generation) that I
discussed in Post 19.
I plan to continue the discussion of Toller’s use of
Expressionistic characteristics in my next Post. There will also be information regarding the
production history of Transformation.
NOTE: Die Wandlung was sometimes translated into English as Transfiguration; however, it is more commonly known today as Transformation.
NOTE: Die Wandlung was sometimes translated into English as Transfiguration; however, it is more commonly known today as Transformation.
REFERENCE:
Toller, Ernst. Plays One. Trans. & Ed. Alan Raphael
Pearlman.
London: Oberon Books, 2011.
(The
above citation relates to the copy of Transformation
that I read. The introduction to each one
of the three plays is helpful as is the additional commentary following the script.
Pearlman translated the German word Bild
as “Picture” instead of Scene. On page
35 he clearly explains his rationale.)
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