Spring Awakening (play)

This article is about the original 1891 play. For a musical adaptation premiering on Broadway in 2006, see Spring Awakening (musical).

Spring Awakening
A Children's Tragedy
First edition 1891
Written byFrank Wedekind
Date premiered20 November 1906 (1906-11-20)
Place premieredDeutsches Theater, Berlin
Original languageGerman
SubjectComing of age, sexual awakening
SettingProvincial German town, 1890–1894

Spring Awakening (German: Frühlings Erwachen) (also translated as Spring's Awakening and The Awakening of Spring) is the German dramatist Frank Wedekind's first major play and a foundational work in the modern history of theatre.[1][2] It was written sometime between autumn 1890 and spring 1891, but did not receive its first performance until 20 November 1906 when it premiered at the Deutsches Theater in Berlin under the direction of Max Reinhardt. It carries the sub-title A Children's Tragedy.[3] The play criticises perceived problems in the sexually oppressive culture of nineteenth century (Fin de siècle) Germany and offers a vivid dramatisation of the erotic fantasies that can breed in such an environment.[2] Due to its controversial subject matter, the play has often been banned or censored.

  1. ^ Banham 1998, p. 1189.
  2. ^ a b Boa 1987, p. 26.
  3. ^ Bond 1993, p. 1.