Frank Wedekind
by Frank Wedekind trans Carl R Mueller

Frank Wedekind (1864-1918) is one of the undisputed forerunners of the modern stage.

An arch radical, he has been described as a master of the shock tactic and the terror of the German bourgeoisie, a lunatic and a criminal who wrote plays of such filth that they are best performed in the gutter.

Others invoke him as God's fool, and yet one thing is certain: He stirs the emotions, pro and con, as deeply as it is possible to imagine.

He is also modern in the sense that as a man he finds himself torn between two poles, conventional morality and liberated morality, especially in regard to the subject of sex, which informs much of his dramatic work.

Wedekind lived in a repressed age and sought to open the windows to the stuffy hothouse atmosphere of his world by showing its hypocrisy - and for this he was severely criticized by the bourgeoisie of his time.