The pants (drama)

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The pants is the title of a comedy by Carl Sternheim . The premiere of this play on February 15, 1911 caused a scandal . The rude directness and the caustic mockery of the German philistine led to a temporary ban on the play.

content

The hero of the play is Theobald mask, his wife Luise the object of desire of the two lodgers Mandelstam and Scarron. While Theobald's rivals fail miserably - Mandelstam recites Richard Wagner in vain to soften Luise and Scarron disappears into his room after he has made her obedient with a poetic outpouring of pompous phrases and locks himself in - Theobald succeeds in maintaining all order and seeming decency with the neighbor Gertrud Deuter with his sensual needs to reach the goal. In this way he reveals the double standard from which he cannot free himself, but which he uses for his interests without scruples.

The play was continued in Sternheim's comedies The Snob and 1913 . It was filmed in 1927 under the title Die Hose von Hans Behrendt with Jenny Jugo and Werner Krauss in the roles of the mask couple.

literature

  • Hermann Korte: Sternheim, Carl: Comedies . In: Kindler's Literature Lexicon in 18 volumes . 3rd, completely revised edition. Munich 2009 (with further evidence).
  • Winfried Freund: Carl Sternheim: The pants. Comedy with no happy ending. In: Dramas of the 20th Century. Interpretations. Volume 1. Stuttgart: Reclam, 1996. pp. 109-126.