Woyzeck

Georg Büchner wrote this shattering drama fragment in 1836, when he was twenty-three. It would take nearly fifty years for the complete version to appear, but Woyzeck's influence on modern drama is incalculable. The play follows Franz, a lowly soldier scraping by on the margins of society, exploited by his captain and manipulated by a doctor who treats him as a guinea pig. He loves Marie and their illegitimate child, clinging to whatever dignity he can find. When Marie betrays him with a drum major, the whispers of a cruel world converge on his unraveling mind until he commits an act of terrible violence. Büchner strips away any safety between audience and suffering, presenting a world where ordinary people become instruments of each other's destruction. For those who seek drama that cuts to the bone.