I believe Woyzeck is the perfect play to modernize, because it is so short and so moldable.

With

these two things in mind we can keep the attention of our audience much easier. I believe this

play needs to be fast paced. I know it’s so chaotic and hard to follow already, but I believe that

is the point and we should feed into it. That’s why I think the play should start with 1.19. The

reason is it prepares the audience for the rest of the play, you are immediately into it and know

what's going to go down. There is a death, and there is going to be a death. Next I want the play

to move to the Doctor scene where they are talking about the call of nature. This scene both

explains Woyzecks conditions while also showing how people treat him, how they are

“supposed” to treat him. Then I would move to the circus scene to finally introduce all the

characters together. I want the climax of the play to be where he buys the knife. This is the

turning point from am I going to do it to, yes I am going to do it. By buying the knife it’s

woyzecks way of deciding that yes he is going to give in to his thoughts. I want the play to end

on the shaving scene. I want it to seem like Woyzeck is about to commit another murder the

whole time. I want the play to end with the uneasy feeling of did these people actually deserve

it. I want to use the Andres scenes as a way to bring people back into reality. I know it’s weird

because Woyzeck is going crazier and crazier with Andres, but I want it to feel like this is his

safe space and a safe space for the audience. Once Woyzeck and Andres are together nothing

bad is going to happen. Or at least that’s what I want the feeling to be. The audience is going to

need a break from the back to back craziness and anything could happen nature of this play. If

we don’t give them a moment to breathe then they won’t be able to keep up. This version of the

play should feel like it’s too fast. Like it’s over in a blink of an eye, because if you were a

watcher of these events it would feel like everything is going so fast. Each interaction doesn’t

take more than a few minutes, but they have such an impact on Woyzeck decisions that you

should have to keep up. The shock of the speed should be the thing keeping people involved in

this play.