Four Plays (1957-62)

by Friedrich Durrenmatt, Jonathan Cape

Four Plays

by
Friedrich Durrenmatt

book data

2 ratings, 4.00 average rating, 1 review (more data...)

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4		100%

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published

1964 by Ebenezer Baylis and Son, Limited The Trinity Press

binding

Hardcover, 359 pages

isbn

description

4 Friedrich Durrenmatt Plays:
Romulus the Great
The Marriage of Mr. Mississippi
A Angel Comes to Babylon
The Physicists

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All ratings | 4 stars (2) | avg 4.00

all | this edition

Cecilia rated it:

08/14/08

bookshelves: plays

Read in August, 2008

This is a German playwright writing in the late 50s, early 60s, so it's all about responsibility and the ability of the state to do horrible things. These also seems to be a through line of the message that absolutism is never a good policy.

Romulus the Great - Play about the last emperor of Rome. The 1st 2 acts are...eh...but acts 3 and 4 are amazing. All about the only way to take down the system is to become the system and then suck at it. It also touches on the evils of blind national...more This is a German playwright writing in the late 50s, early 60s, so it's all about responsibility and the ability of the state to do horrible things. These also seems to be a through line of the message that absolutism is never a good policy.

Romulus the Great - Play about the last emperor of Rome. The 1st 2 acts are...eh...but acts 3 and 4 are amazing. All about the only way to take down the system is to become the system and then suck at it. It also touches on the evils of blind nationalism and the mistake of underestimating the complexity of your opponent. Fantastic.

The Marriage of Mr. Mississippi - There are 4 main characters in this play. One ruled by staying true to God, one by stay true to Communism, one by staying true to love, and one by staying true to whatever seems like a good idea of this moment. First guess which one is the woman. Second guess how well all of their absolutes end for them.

An Angel Comes to Babylon - An Angel comes down to Babylon to give this beautiful girl to the only beggar left in the world. The same day, King Nebuchadnezzar, dresses up as a beggar to convince the beggar to stop being a beggar for the good of the state. Hilarity ensues and the king gets the girl after a fun begging competition. The real beggar gets the girl anyway even though the girl has now "fallen in love" with the king who she things is a beggar. The real beggar, who subsidizes all the poets in Babylon, feeds her, cares for her, and she is then taken away to be married to the king. The people riot, the armies destroyed and the king doesn't get the girl b/c no one is willing to give up what they have to get what they want. I can see similarities b/t this beggar (Akki) and Brecht's judge Azdak in Chalk Circle.

The Physicists - In a mad house for rich people the people who say they're sane are crazy, the people who say they're crazy are sane, and the nurses who figure it out get murdered. (how's that for a movie?) This play is about scientists' doomed responsibilities not to harm the world with their advancements. Not a happy ending....less

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