TOLLER’S MASSES MAN (other titles MASSES AND MAN and MAN AND THE MASSES)

Ernst Toller (1893-1939) wrote his first draft of Masses Man (Masse Mensch) in October 1919. It was his second play and it took him two and a half days to complete the first draft, but it took another year of hard work to shape it into a script ready for theatrical production. During the time he worked on this script, he was incarcerated in Fortress Niederschonenfeld, a military prison, in the Bavarian area of Germany.

                                                                   ERNST TOLLER

Toller was quickly able to set his ideas to paper since this play reflected the second major experience of his adult life.  The first was fighting on the Western Front during World War One and the second was his leadership involvement in the Munich Revolution. During six days in April 1919, after the revolution was successful, Toller served as President of the Bavarian Soviet Republic. The violent events that were part of the revolution preyed heavily on Toller’s conscientious since he despised force and hated bloodshed.  Toller had not followed his ideals. The writing of Masses Man depicts Toller working through his idealistic conflict.

Masses Man is written in the style of Expressionism. Each section of the play is designated a “Picture.”  There is a total of seven Pictures. Three of the Pictures are labelled “Dream Picture.” Toller states that these three sections of the drama are “in the visionary beyond of a dream.”  

    FIRST PICTURE. “Indicated: Backroom of a workers’ tavern.                              

                                   On whitewashed walls pictures of veterans’ clubs and                                                                  portraits of heroes of the Masses. 

                                   In the middle a large and clumsy table around which                                                                   THE WOMAN and THE WORKERS sit.”

The play is set during World War One. The factory workers are planning to go on strike to force a peace settlement. They also want their actions to create a fairer society. The Woman’s Husband arrives to speak to her privately. The workers leave. HUSBAND works for the government and wants WOMAN to relinquish her present activities. WOMAN refuses even though she realizes her actions will end the marriage.

SECOND PICTURE (Dream Picture). “Indicated: Hall of the Stock Exchange.

                                   CLERK at the desk, around him BANKERS and BROKERS.                                                        CLERK: face of THE HUSBAND.

The Bankers are rejoicing over their war earnings.  Suddenly it is announced that the battle on the Western Front is lost. The characters go into a panic over their perceived financial losses. THE COMPANION enters.  His face bears a magic resemblance to THE WOMAN, who he leads into the room. THE WOMAN addresses the BANKERS as “human beings” and fades from the scene. The money men begin to discuss holding charitable events for human beings in need.

THIRD PICTURE. The stage remains dark during the CHORUSES OF THE MASSES.

                                Then the stage brightens to indicate THE GREAT HALL.

                                “On the platform a long narrow table. THE WOMAN sits left.

                                MEN and WOMEN WORKERS tightly packed in the hall.”

THE WOMAN advocates letting the factories “be the servants of a worthy life.”

                             Suddenly out of the crowd, THE NAMELESS hurries to the platform.

                             He stands to the right of the table.

THE NAMELESS calls for more than a strike.  He claims social justice can only be won by violent Revolution. Eventually even THE WOMAN is partially persuaded.

FOURTH PICTURE (Dream Picture). “Indicated: Prison yard surrounded by high walls.

                                   Night.  In the middle of the prison yard on the ground, a lantern

                                   which weeps a faint light.”

                                   From the corners of the courtyard WORKER-GUARDS appear.

The guards sing and suddenly THE NAMELESS quietly appears and stands beside the lantern. The guards dance as THE NAMELESS plays a concertina. THE CONDEMNED MAN, with a rope around his neck appears. More Condemned Men continue to join this dance of death. The scene grows to include HUSBAND. As everyone is converted to the thinking of the masses, THE WOMAN continues to maintain “Only Man counts.”

FIFTH PICTURE. Indicated: THE HALL. At long table THE WOMAN sits left.

                               THE NAMELESS sits right. WORKER-GUARDS at doors.

                               MEN and WOMEN WORKERS huddle at tables.

                                        
                                             SOLDIERS ARRIVE TO ARREST LEADER

OTHER WORKERS bring reports about the fighting that is taking place in the streets.  The MASSES are losing the battle. The Hall is suddenly surrounded by SOLDIERS. When they enter the hall, THE WOMAN is identified as leader and she is shackled.

SIXTH PICTURE (Dream Picture). “Boundless space. In its core, a cage, lit by

                               a flickering shaft of light. Inside crouching down, THE

                               SHACKLED PRISONER (face of THE WOMAN).

                               Next to the cage, THE COMPANION in the figure

                               of THE WARDER.”

THE SHACKLED PRISONER is taunted by SHADOWS and BANKERS until he declares his guilt. The SHACKLED is freed by the WARDER, who declares “You are healed.”

                                               Beginning moments of PICTURE 6

PICTURE SEVEN. Prison Cell.  THE WOMAN sits at table.

THE HUSBAND arrives to tell her that she has been found innocent of the shootings during the strike. They argue and he leaves. The NAMELESS arrives to free her.  They debate about the MASSES. He grows tired of her position and leaves without freeing her. THE PRIEST arrives to ease her final time before leading her out of the cell to her execution.  After a few seconds, two female PRISONERS enter the cell.  They take a few items left by THE WOMAN, but quickly put them back after they hear a gun volley from outside.

Toller’s sense of time and place are clearly delineated throughout the play. What my plot summary does not include is the emotional power of this play. Both THE WOMAN and THE NAMELESS are passionate about their positions and this heightened level of political emotion leaps off the page.

I originally knew this play by the title Man and the Masses. This title was given by Louis H. Untermeyer (1885-1977) who translated it in 1923 for American audiences. The original British translation is titled Masses and Man. Vera Mendel translated this version sometime during 1923-24. I prefer the title Masses Man as translated by Alan Raphael Pearlman and published in 2000. (This is the version I read for this post.) Masses Man makes a clearer statement about the play for me. It has been understood that the earlier two titles refer to THE WOMAN who wants the strike to win the peace while the masses are persuaded to turn to revolution for the future of a better society.  For me Masses Man refers to THE NAMELESS who persuades the masses to make their planned action into a violent revolution.

The first production of this play was staged on November 15, 1920 at the Nurnberg Stadttheater. The authorities had allowed a series of private performances for trade unionists. For the fourth performance on November 26^th about one hundred tickets were offered at the door to non-unionists. Some of these tickets were purchased by individuals of different political beliefs and they staged disturbances during the performance. This event prohibited the theatre from presenting more performances in Nurembreg. Two more private performances of this production moved to the city of Furth in northern Bavaria. These events occurred prior to the play appearing in print.

In February 1921 an amateur production was staged by the Municipal Committee for Adult Education in Chemnitz located in eastern Germany.  

The second professional production opened on September 29, 1921 and it was staged by Jurgen Fehling (1885-1968) at the Berlin Volksbuhne--a major theatre in Europe at this time. This staged version of Masses Man became its most renown production. The set designer was Hans Strohbach (1891-1949) and Heinz Thiessen (1887-1971) composed the music. Mary Dietrich played THE WOMAN, Ferdinand Asper’s role was THE NAMELESS and Heinz Bernecker, HUSBAND.

A production opened in Moscow in 1923 at the Majakowski Theater. During the Spring of 1924 Masses Man was staged in both the United States and England. The American translation of the play was used for both productions. Man and the Masses opened in New York City on April 14, 1924 at the Garrick Theatre.  It was produced by the Theatre Guild and it ran for thirty-two performances. Lee Simonson (1885-1967) designed the scenery and staged this production. 

The London production opened May 1924 during the week of twentieth. It was produced by the Stage Society at the New Theatre. The initial performances were for private audiences, but it opened for the public later. Sybil Thorndike (1882-1976) played THE WOMAN and George Hayes (1888-1967) played THE NAMELESS. John Foulds (1880-1939) composed the music.

Masses Man has achieved the distinction world-wide of being the most well-known                 Expressionist play.

   NOTES:

1.      Alan Raphael Pearlman. Ernest Toller PLAYS ONE. London: Oberon Books Ltd., 2000.

2.      THE WOMAN is also known in other translations as SONIA IRENE L.

3.      This blog also has posts on other plays by Toller: Transformation and Hinkemann.

4.      PHOTOS: Toller drawing by S. J. Woolf from Theatre Guild photo and it appeared in NEW YORK TIMES on August 12, 1923 (page 18).

      Production Pictures 5 & 6 are from the production directed by Jurgen Fehling. These

      photos appear in same book cited in number 1 Note.

TRANSFORMATION by ERNST TOLLER

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.

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.)