Woyzeck Book

"For decades profound importance has been attached to Buchner's Woyzeck. It is played again and again in Germany, has been translated into many foreign languages, and is played on many stages throughout the world. Given its significance and popularity, it is quite extraordinary how little understanding has been shown of the true nature of the text." "Generations of students of modern drama have been taught to view Woyzeck as an important forerunner of open theatre, leading from Lenz to Brecht, where the assumption has been that fragmentary structure signifies and effects a breakaway from classical, so-called Aristotelian theatre in favour of a more modern structure better able to represent the fragmentation of modern experience." With Walther Lehmann's Woyzeck edition in 1967 the foundations were laid for overthrowing this 'doctrine' about Woyzeck. Lehmann's edition established a strict sequence of scenes which showed the play to be anything but an example of open theatre. Further scholarly editions, while differing among themselves in some respects, have shown that a consensus has been reached among modern editors about what is the correct sequence of scenes.