The Weavers (play)
 | You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in German. (March 2011) Click [show] for important translation instructions.
|
The Weavers is a play written by the German playwright Gerhart Hauptmann in 1892.
Plot summary
Most of the characters are proletarians struggling for their rights. Unlike most plays of any period, as pointed out many times in literature criticism and introductions, the play has no true central character, providing ample opportunities for ensemble acting.
Production history
"The Weavers" has been staged on Broadway once, in 1915-1916.[1]
Criticism
Barrett H. Clark's comments: as one of Gerhart Hauptmann's experiments in dramatic form, The Weavers is highly significant. Instead of a hero, he has created a mob; this mob is therefore the protagonist—or chief character—and if individuals emerge from the rank and file they are not thrust into the foreground to stay long. It is the weavers as a class that are ever before us, and the unity of the play is in them and in them alone; they are only parts of a larger picture which will take shape as the story advances, and are not intended to be taken as important individuals.[2]
References
- ^ http://ibdb.com/production.php?id=8241
- ^ Barrett H. Clark. The Continental Drama of Today. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1914. pp. 89-93.
External links
- The text of the play at the Archive.org