Georg Büchner’s Woyzeck, a work by the important German poet and playwright, has survived only as a fragile fragment and was published posthumously in 1837. It occupies a unique position in world drama. Not only because it was inspired by the real-life crime committed by a soldier named Woyzeck, but also because it introduced a new kind of language and an open form of drama that uses a free sequence of scenes, together with powerful emotional intensity and imagery. The work has become one of the most frequently performed works in the dramatic canon and has influenced generations of artists.

 

Woyzeck is an ordinary man who takes on several jobs to survive and provide for his family. He runs for his life just to keep up with life itself. He allows himself to be subjected to a medical experiment, takes on countless small jobs and cares for his partner and child in an effort to make a living and perhaps secure some degree of comfort. He is caught in an endless pressure of needs, obligations and his own desires. His story is as dynamic as a dramatic ride on a roller coaster. Yet it never seems to be enough, and the pressure to perform keeps mounting. Is it his own choice, or is it what those around him demand? His determination to keep everything under control takes its toll on both his physical and mental health. How much pressure from society – and from himself – can he withstand? Büchner created a world in which a human being is caught between their own choices and the basic necessity of survival. What numbs our feelings and erodes our morality? Is it a dire social situation or a loss of humanity that ultimately leads even this ordinary man to a breaking point, forcing him to cross moral boundaries?

 

This will be the first production of Woyzeck on the stage of the Drama Company of the Slovak National Theatre.