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    The Prince of Homburg
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    The Prince of Homburg
    Unavailable
    The Prince of Homburg
    Ebook126 pages1 hour

    The Prince of Homburg

    By Heinrich von Kleist and Neil Bartlett

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    Tell me, please - is this a dream?'

    The night before he leads his troops into battle, the prince of Homburg strips off his uniform and goes sleepwalking. Moonstruck, his mind races with a young man's fantasies - love, ambition and victory. But when the morning comes, a single reckless act of disobediance sets in motion a chain of events that leads inexorable to the one thing he never dreamt would happen; his own death.

    Heinrich von Kleist is one of the most enigmatic figures in theatre history. Driven to suicide at the age of 34, he left behind him seven extraordinary plays. Unperformed during his own lifetime, The Prince of Homburg is now regarded as von Kleist's masterpiece and is one of the most mysterious and beautiful plays of the nineteenth century.

    Neil Bartlett's production opened at the RSC Stratford in January 2002, and transferred to the Lyric Theatre.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherOberon Modern Plays
    Release dateJan 28, 2002
    ISBN9781849439619
    Unavailable
    The Prince of Homburg
    Author

    Heinrich von Kleist

    German writer, 1777-1811

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    Reviews for The Prince of Homburg

    4/5

    25 ratings3 reviews

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    • 3/5
      While technically being a play from the Enlightenment, it is set in the Renaissance, using Renaissance societal roles and expectations to ask the sort of questions often brought forward by the Enlightenment. This one actually has a bit of a timely message, fitting well with many of the obsessions of the past century. Is it all right for a soldier to disobey the order of a superior if the order appears to be destined to lead to failure, where success can be obtained by disobedience? Which is more important, law or morality? Or, for that matter, is love more important than honor? A major difference between this and a Renaissance play is that the author chooses to leave those questions unanswered. He presents the difficult problem, and allows others to chew on it. Decent writing, more exposition than is allowed in modern plays, and more happening off stage. This is not a criticism.
    • 3/5
      While technically being a play from the Enlightenment, it is set in the Renaissance, using Renaissance societal roles and expectations to ask the sort of questions often brought forward by the Enlightenment. This one actually has a bit of a timely message, fitting well with many of the obsessions of the past century. Is it all right for a soldier to disobey the order of a superior if the order appears to be destined to lead to failure, where success can be obtained by disobedience? Which is more important, law or morality? Or, for that matter, is love more important than honor? A major difference between this and a Renaissance play is that the author chooses to leave those questions unanswered. He presents the difficult problem, and allows others to chew on it. Decent writing, more exposition than is allowed in modern plays, and more happening off stage. This is not a criticism.
    • 4/5
      It’s the night before the crucial battle with the invading Swedish army, a night when rest is of utmost importance. But on the high quarter grounds, the prince of Homburg is, embarrassingly, sleepwalking. This unmanly conduct puts him on the receiving end of a practical joke from the Elector, and when he wakes up it’s with a feeling he’s had a significant premonition. After all – isn’t he holding a strange glove in his hand, a glove that’s bound to belong to the woman of his dream? Still not sure if he’s awake or sleeping, he has a hard time concentrating on the briefing before the battle the next morning. And disobeys given orders as a result.Kleist is one of those writers that are so much before their day it’s hard to grasp. Written in 1811, this play reads like something by Kafka a hundred years later. The dreamlike ambience colliding with military bureaucracy is very effective, and it’s clever how Kleist lets each decision Homburg make end up in its opposite. Even when he decides to do the stout military thing and accept his punishment initiative is snatched away from him. Also very fond of Kleist’s female characters. There are but two of them, but they are active and full of initiative, unusual for the times when this play was written. Heinrich von Kleist continues to impress me with each play of his I read. I, who often yawn at classics, find his voice fresh, modern and complex. It’s too bad he isn’t staged more often in my country.