| Pioneers in Ingolstadt | |
|---|---|
| Written by | Marieluise Fleißer |
| Date premiered | 25 March 1928 |
| Place premiered | Dresden |
| Original language | German |
| Genre | Epic comedy |
| Setting | Ingolstadt, Bavaria |
Pioneers in Ingolstadt (German: Pioniere in Ingolstadt) is a play by German playwright Marieluise Fleißer, which premiered on 25 March 1928 in Dresden. The play is set in 1926 and is described as a comedy in 14 Scenes. Fleißer based the play on real incidents, and worked on it in collaboration with Bertolt Brecht. The play was revised and produced at the Theater am Schiffbauerdamm in Berlin in March and April 1929, directed by Brecht and Jacob Geis, with set-design by Caspar Neher. In 1968 Fleißer began a third revision, which was performed in 1970. In 1971, Rainer Werner Fassbinder adapted the play as a film for television.[1]
The setting of the play is Ingolstadt, a provincial city in Bavaria. The play depicts the immorality and selfishness which can be found in small towns, as well as how the militia can disrupt the lives of civilians. As a result of its depiction of a sexist society, the play did not win much sympathy from her fellow inhabitants of Ingolstadt and Fleisser suffered massive unpopularity in her home town after it was published and produced.
In 2019, the play was named as one of the "40 best plays of all time" by The Independent, who wrote that Fleißer's play had been "sorely neglected" and had been "effectively hijacked" by Brecht as he had "imposed overt anti-militarism and sensationalising sex" into the play.[2]