Contemporary Play Reaction

Contemporary Play Reaction

 

1.   This play is all about sexuality, which became a primary topic and subject matter for plays in the contemporary style. In addition to the topic of sexuality, this play was originally in German, but the version I read was translated into English. This exhibits the contemporary trend of spreading the works of playwrights across language barriers, and across the world.

2.   I most likely do not know the “-ism” I am seeing in this play, so I’ll just make one up. I’d probably start with petridism, coming from the word “petri dish” because this entire play has a feel of kids experimenting with each other like bacteria in a petri dish. Also, the parents and adults never speak in short scene, they must drag on in long, illustrious speeches like grand observers of the actual “experiments” or scenes with children talking to one another in quick exchanges. In addition to petridism, I would say sexualism, or perhaps fantacism concerning the ghost scene towards the end.

3.   I think that the theme Wedekind attempts to portray about children living sheltered lives, and the about how love truly is a “great experiment” with sometimes disastrous results is very relevant, and so I would say he is very much alive through this play and other works of his.

4.   Connecting to number three, Wedekind’s theme is timeless, and applies to today’s society as much as any other time. Love is and always will be awkward, particularly at the age of Moritz and Wendla and the others. In some parts of the world, children are still successfully sheltered from sex and sexuality for a great deal of their young adult lives.

5.   I think that a key part of Spring Awakening is the “closed” society where nothing is discussed in the open. Germany in this particular time period is quite fitting for the show, but I could possibly see this play being translated to another community known for being “closed” like, the Amish.

6.   Digitalism, because the new age of technology will play a vital role, in fact it will almost HAVE to play a vital role in theatre of the performance art to survive. J