Cromwell (Christoph Hein)
Cromwell is a play in fifteen pictures by Christoph Hein , which premiered on April 17, 1980 in Cottbus with Wolfgang Dehler in the title role and directed by Peter Röll. Further GDR performances took place on February 26, 1984 in Gera and on October 5, 1984 in Eisenach . The German premiere followed on October 24, 1986 under the direction of Hansgünther Heyme in Essen .
The text was published in 1981 as part of the “Cromwell and other pieces” collection at Aufbau-Verlag Berlin.
content
The play is based on events from 1644 to Oliver Cromwell's year of death 1658. The background is the English Civil War , the reconquest of Ireland and the final years of the English Republic .
action
Landlord Capon, a neighbor of Oliver Cromwell in his native Ely , has gone to London. Capon calls himself a farmer like the Puritan Cromwell. In the foyer of Parliament he talks to Ladybird, a servant of Cromwell, about the "revolution". King Charles I was expelled from London. Cromwell is to become a general.
Cromwell's superior, the MP General Earl of Manchester , belittles Cromwell's victory over the royalists . Because Charles I collected taxes without parliamentary approval, the king was reprimanded. Not more. Together with the faithful Captain Henry Ireton , Cromwell visits his family in Ely. At the behest of Cromwell's wife Elisabeth d. J. their son Richard is supposed to greet their father returning home. The stubborn child is reluctant. Cromwell's mother, Elisabeth d. Ä., Scolds her warlike son a marauder and revolutionary who raises his hand against the king and lets churches devastate. Cromwell doesn't want to hear that. The mother predicts a bad end for Cromwell and his soldiers. Ireton wants Cromwell's daughter Bridget to be his wife. Cromwell wishes to assist the confidante in courting. After the battle of Naseby , which Charles I lost, the equalizer Lieutenant Colonel John Lilburne wants to drive the king into the sea. On Cromwell's orders, Charles I must not be touched. After the battle was won, Cromwell prevailed with iron severity against General Thomas Fairfax , the commander-in-chief of his army. Colonel Steward, son of an old friend of Cromwell's, is tried by a court-martial for indiscipline during the fighting and shot in front of his New Army soldiers , the Red Brothers. In 1646, Count Manchester reassured Spidernach, the director of the East India Company . The monarchy will not be abolished in the long run; not even from an upstart Cromwell. At the New Army headquarters in Saffron Walden , Cromwell blames Parliament for the soldiers' discontent. The pay is not paid. Parliament wants to weaken the New Army by dividing it. Cromwell is not to be trifled with. A cavalry regiment takes Charles I prisoner in his castle, Holmby House . Bridget heard Ireton. The family is to move from Ely to London. Elisabeth d. Ä. calls her son a bandit and refuses. Cromwell, who now sits in Westminster as Lord Protector , calls himself a farmer, but he can't help himself - he reluctantly has to wade through blood. The Lord Protector wants to crush Lilburne and his equalizers. Young farmers are lured into the army of the republic for a year with good wages.
On January 30, 1649, Charles I was beheaded in front of Whitehall for high treason. The Republic of England , Scotland and Ireland is proclaimed. Cromwell's family enjoys lavish London life. Cromwell made the Protectorate hereditary. Thousands are fleeing to the continent. Cromwell has the women of the Irish rebels slain in Drogheda . The army coups under Lilburne and Ireton. Cromwell has the son-in-law shot. Cromwell has had its day. Manchester and Spidernach want to make Charles I's son king. English soldiers receive the land of slain Irish instead of pay. Lilburne is shot in the tower . Cromwell dies in Westminster . Later, when Charles II came to power, he ordered Cromwell's body to be excavated and hanged.
reception
Comments after stage performances
- Cottbus premiere:
According to Erika Stephan (“ Sonntag ”, number 30, 1980), Hein also wanted to bring the events of 1650 closer to the audience with words from the 20th century. Karl-Heinz Müller (“ Theater der Zeit ”, No. 8, 1980) does not like Peter Röll's means of showing off (for example stage elements). Andreas Rossmann (" Süddeutsche Zeitung " of July 31, 1980) praises Hein's language.
- Essen premiere:
According to Ulrich Schreiber (" Frankfurter Rundschau " of October 29, 1986), Hein emphasized the revolutionary element too much, perhaps with a view to the surveys in the centuries that followed. Werner Schulze-Reimpell (“ Theater heute ”, issue 12, 1986) observes a characteristic of these revolutions that Hein also pointed out. What is meant is the revolutionary's path from idealist to dictator. Michael Skasa ("Süddeutsche Zeitung" of October 27, 1986) experienced cabaret at Heyme's.
Meetings
In Hein's play after Kiewitz, Cromwell's revolution meant GDR socialism. The high nobility (Manchester, Spidernach) use Cromwell, the man who rises from the lower nobility to the upper class, and then let him fall. Cromwell only took strict action when the people no longer wanted to follow him. There would be no one who could absolve the Lord Protector of guilt for his bloody deeds.
Hammer gives over forty utterances. Preusser and Hammer name 25 papers.
literature
Text output
- Used edition
- "Cromwell. A play". P. 5–87 in: Christoph Hein: Cromwell and other pieces. Epilogue: Rudolf Münz. 321 pages. Aufbau-Verlag, Berlin 1981 (1st edition)
Secondary literature
- Heinz-Peter Preußer, Klaus Hammer: “Selection bibliography Christoph Hein.” Pp. 92–105 in: in Heinz Ludwig Arnold (Ed.): “Text + Criticism. Journal of Literature. Booklet 111. Christoph Hein. “Munich, July 1991, ISBN 3-88377-391-3
- Klaus Hammer (Ed.): “Chronicler without a message. Christoph Hein. A work book. Materials, information, bibliography. ”315 pages. Aufbau-Verlag, Berlin 1992, ISBN 3-351-02152-6
- Christl Kiewitz: “The silent scream. Crisis and criticism of the socialist intelligentsia in the work of Christoph Hein. ”308 pages. Stauffenburg Verlag, Tübingen 1995 (Diss. University of Augsburg 1994), ISBN 3-86057-137-0 (pp. 64–85)
annotation
- ↑ For example petrol cans, loudspeakers , sports page, Nazi, freight wagons or machine guns.