Lulu

Lulu is a beautiful liberal young woman who is self-assured and egotiscally lives out her own wishes. She attracts men in droves into her spell and yet her unbridled lust for life rapidly gets her into trouble socially. Frank Wedekind describes the rise and fall of this young woman who, in a man’s world, enjoyed unlimited opportunities. To this day, this experimental arrangement has impacted on taboos, and in the words of the author himself: »What is missing in the play is any kind of morality that the prudent Philistine can benefit from when he goes home.«

An Editor in Chief, his son, a medical practitioner, a painter, an athlete, a countess and Jack the Ripper meet Lulu and get involved in a network of passion. Each one pays a price for it. Lulu herself has always fascinated and at the same time repelled the public and was for many years the subject of very mixed interpretations. She was variously likened to a »femme fatale’’, an innocent young girl, and yet also a symbol of female emancipation and sacrifice to a man’s world which she herself did not admit. Today, as before, she is overwhelmingly modern in a debate which has re-opened, about what women and men are allowed to do and say in present day society.

As for Wedekind himself, who was inspired by his experiences in the circus and as copywriter, the play was an artistic breakthrough. At the same time, it represented a counterpoint to Gerhart Hauptmann’s idea of naturalism on the stage. Frank Wedekind (1864-1918) was the son of a doctor and an actress. He studied law, worked for »Simplicissimus«, in the circus and as advertising manager before he made a name for himself as actor and writer. His main work »Lulu« was inspired by the plays »Erdgeist« (1895) and »Pandora’s Box« (1902).

Carl Philip von Maldeghem through his direction rearranged Wedekind’s sequence of play to give more weight to the curious self-determination of Lulu as a character.  This all happens with accomplished partners in the style of Thomas Pekny’s »Funny Girl«, »Nach Europa/Über das Meer« with costume design by Conny Lüders »Cabaret«.

Duration: approx. 2 hours / incl. intermission

UNTERRICHTSMATERIAL "LULU"