Although Georg Buchner was only 23 when he died in 1837, he had already written three masterpieces. One of them, Woyzeck, is the ghastly tragedy of an impoverished soldier driven to murder after his lover Marie is seduced by a Drum Major. A mix of brutal desire and murderous jealousy, the play rushes to its violent climax like a flash of light from a smashed mirror.
Since Buchner left several manuscript drafts, adapters have a lot of scope to make Woyzeck a reflection of their own times. This new version, adapted and directed by Daniel Kramer, is visually stunning and emotionally gruelling. Full of exciting Artaudian ideas, it is a brilliantly lit Expressionist production which creates a lurid world where the grotesque rubs against the tender.
As clamorous bells call Woyzeck to parade, he rushes around on a tricycle trying to earn money as a guinea pig for the local doctor’s experiments. Marie, meanwhile, is unable to resist the sturdy Drum Major and finds her dreams turned to dust. Kramer uses a powerful soundtrack - from Beethoven’s Ode to Joy to Elvis Presley classics - to intensify the action.
On Neil Irish’s superbly designed set, which includes an unforgettable final woodland tableau, Edward Hogg’s Woyzeck has just the right hunted feel and his climactic seizure is genuinely disturbing. As Marie, Myriam Acharki is more tentative, while Tim Chipping, Clive Brunt and Fred Pearson as the Drum Major, Sergeant and Captain are fierce and thuggish. All in all, Kramer’s sweaty and frenzied Woyzeck really rocks.
Production information can change over the run of the show.
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