In 1911, Reinhard
Johannes Sorge (1892-1916) wrote The Beggar. Its subtitle is “A Dramatic
Mission.” It is the first full-length
Expressionist drama to be published. This occurred in 1912 when S. Fischrt
Publisher, located in Berlin, released the first edition. The Beggar
received the Kleist Prize in the same year as its publication.
The Beggar dramatizes
several early expressionist elements. During the initial period of
expressionism’s development, events in a drama relating to real life
experiences are generalized even though they may reflect occurrences from the
playwright’s actual life. Sorge’s drama illustrates how the revolutionary
expressionists were envisioning the initial step to improve life for humankind.
This was believed to be through the demise of the parental generation and eventually
through war. The initial group of expressionists believed war was necessary in
order to cleanse the world.
During World War One many
young expressionists realized that war was not going to help accomplish their
ideal society. Sorge, who was a soldier
in the German army, may have changed his original thinking on this issue prior
to his death in France on July 20, 1916.
He was mortally wounded during the battle at Albaincourt.
The Beggar
is a five-act play; however, the playwright recommended that Act Five not be
performed since the action of this drama is contained in the first three acts. When
Walter Sokel (1917-2014) and his wife, Jacqueline Sokel, translated the play
into English (c.1963), they omitted both Acts Four and Five since these
sections of the play consist primarily of lyrical monologues delivered by the
protagonist and reportedly are concerned with his spiritual development.
The Beggar
is set in Berlin. Act One concerns The Poet and how he envisions advancing his
career as a playwright. There are scenes that take place in different
locations, however Sorge envisioned the change of location to be accomplished almost
instantly through lighting changes and utilization of different parts of the
stage. There is a flow from one scene to
another that is similar to contemporary theatre.
Throughout Act One successful
characters who desire to assist The Poet build his career as a playwright are
introduced, but he refuses all their generous offers. He has his own set of
ideals which may well have matched Sorge’s personal wishes making this segment
of the play appear to be autobiographical.
Act Two is devoted to introducing
The Poet’s father as well as his mother and sister. The insane Father believes he is currently
well enough to dismiss his attendant, but later in the act The Father requests
The Poet (who is now called The Son) to give him poison. There is also The Girl
who appears briefly in each act. She becomes the protagonist’s beloved in just
a few short glimpses.
ONE OF STERN'S RENDERINGS FOR THE BEGGAR
Act Three is set in the family’s
garden. The Son and his mother enjoy the birch tree during this Spring moment.
The birch tree is the symbol of new beginnings, regeneration and hope for the
future. When the Father returns home, he
has completed his work and is ready to die. The poison business is dragged out
a bit, but it is finally successful. The
surprise is that The Mother also knowingly drinks the poison and following her
death, Son speaks of her love for him. Since
I read Sokel’s English translation of this play, I cannot address in more
detail Acts Four and Five other than what I have mentioned above.
The question in one’s
mind at this point may be who is The Beggar? Is it The Father who
repeatedly asks his son to give him poison? This seems a logical first guess.
However, I do not know of any other play where the protagonist’s name changes
in the script the way this one does—The Poet (Der Dichter), The Son (Der Sohn)
and The Young Man (Der Jungling) is his name in the last two acts. Is the protagonist of the play the character
to whom the title is referencing? Does The Poet/Son/Young Man continually need
to seek his identity and place in life from those who may have a degree of
control over him?
Despite the play’s
literary reputation, it was not performed until December 23,1917. It was
produced and directed by Max Reinhardt (1873-1943) at Berlin’s Deutsches
Theater and starred the expressionist actor Ernst Deutsch (1890-1969) as The
Poet/Son. Reinhardt had purchased the rights to stage The Beggar in 1913,
but he waited until political conditions in Germany had begun to change. Gusti
Adler, Reinhardt’s secretary for twenty years, wrote in his biography, But do not forget the Chinese
Nightengales: Memories of Max Reinhardt, that Reinhardt produced this play
when Germany “was in flux, as in a bubbling volcano.” Adler also mentions that Reinhardt waited to
stage The Beggar until he found a method of presenting expressionistic
ideas on stage. This is a significant consideration since the acting,
scenic/lighting elements, make-up and costume design all required a new style
of presentation. The scenery for The Beggar was designed by Ernst Stern
(1876-1954) who had been working with Reinhardt since 1906. Stern was one of
Reinhardt’s leading collaborators and innovators. As a result, Stern was at the
forefront of developing the scenic style for expressionistic theatre
productions.
The Beggar
became even more famous after Reinhardt’s production. It was staged in major German cities
including Cologne in 1919. The early expressionist plays were not performed
outside of Germany until 1922 when The Theatre Guild in New York City undertook
a production of From Morn to Midnight by Georg Kaiser (1878-1975).
Although The Beggar
was not presented on stage in the United States and England, it was mentioned
in numerous newspapers and books published after the war ended. German language
newspaper articles in the United States touted the play due to its popularity
in Germany on stage as well as its mention in many publications.
The Beggar
was not meant to be a conventional theater piece by any stretch of the
imagination. It was meant to serve as a communal experience that could begin to
bring about changes in how individuals thought about society. Sorge believed it
was the artist’s task to change the world and save all suffering human-beings.
PHOTO: J.L. Styan. Max Reinhardt. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1982.
I am fascinated to read this description of the Beggar, a play I have not been able to read (yet). I am about to publish a volume of Sorge's poetry, currently being translated into English by the poet John Gallas. Gallas is captivated by Sorge's writing and amazed that, other than the Beggar, his work is pretty much unknown, even in Germany. He must have been extraordinarily talented to have been able to produce the body of work he did before his death at the age of just 24. I'm very grateful for your excellent insights and the historical back-story. I hope that the volume of poetry might also bring him to greater notice.
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