The clock strikes one
| Data | |
|---|---|
| Title: | The clock strikes one |
| Genus: | drama |
| Original language: | German |
| Author: | Carl Zuckmayer |
| Premiere: | October 14, 1961 |
| Place of premiere: | Vienna Burgtheater |
| Place and time of the action: | 1953 to 1954 in Germany, French Indochina and in a French military hospital |
| people | |
|
|
The clock strikes one is a play by Carl Zuckmayer from 1961. The subtitle is: A historical drama from the present . The first performance was on October 14, 1961 in the Vienna Burgtheater . The director was Heinz Hilpert , the role of Gerhard was played by Ernst Anders , that of Jörg Holtermann by Heinz Moog and by Gudula Paula Wessely .
content
The piece is divided into nine scenes. The times of the action are the years 1953 and 1954 in Germany (American occupation zone), in French Indochina and in a French military hospital.
The first scene begins with a celebration of the fortieth birthday of Gudula , the wife of the successful factory owner Jörg Holtermann . This gives her a Porsche - Cabriolet . The couple have two children: 18 year old Gerhard and 21 year old Isabel . Gerhard has been absent for two days, which worries Gudula. When he finally arrives and hands her an expensive piece of jewelry with nine amethysts that she had previously owned, the scene ends in a dispute, because Gerhard declares that he paid for it himself, but is silent about where the money comes from.
The second scene takes place in the headquarters of a gang called the "Golden Horde" who carry out raids with military precision. It is located in the vaulted cellar of an American dance hall and is under the protection of an American manager-sergeant. Privatdozent Dr. Flühvogel , a family friend, meets here with his old war comrade, gang leader Turo von Heydenkamp . He had asked him to procure a rare classic edition, but soon the discussion turns to Gerhard, who is a member of Turo's gang. Flühvogel first tries to persuade Turo to release Gerhard. When this does not help, Flühvogel begins openly threatening to blow Turo up. Turo is not impressed, but reminds Flühvogel of his SS past. After Flühvogel's forced departure, he instructed his gang members about a new action in which Gerhard should take command for the first time.
In the third scene, Gudula visits the headquarters and tries to persuade Turo to release Gerhard. Turo doesn't want to go into that, but offers her another meeting at the Park Hotel, where he is based.
The fourth scene takes place in Holtermann's modern studio: Jörg Holtermann is about to go on a business trip to Paris, where Gudula is to accompany him. Before that, the couple spoke about the marriage proposal Dr. Flühvogel for Isabel. This is called, but does not take the request seriously. From this, however, a conversation develops in which she learns that she is not the biological daughter of Jörg Holtermann, but of Gudula's first husband: a Jewish composer who perished at the beginning of the Third Reich. In order to protect her child, the mother had to keep paternity a secret. Now Gerhard is also joining. Isabel, who finds this all too much, leaves the scene with the announcement that Dr. To marry Flühvogel just to get her out of here. In the following conversation, Gerhard learns that his mother is not only informed about his criminal career, but was also at the gang's headquarters. This in turn causes him to break up with the family. In a subsequent conversation, the couple have a deeper discussion. However, Jörg Holtermann has no understanding of his son's motives. Gudula decides to accept Turo's offer to meet again.
The fifth scene takes place in the drawing room of a hotel apartment. Gudula informs Turo of the new situation. When asked, he tells about the circumstances that made him a criminal, such as the murder of his parents in Latvia in 1922, his escape and the resulting commitment as commander of a special unit on the Eastern Front . Gudula tells of her first husband, who was beaten half to death by the National Socialists in March 1933, and to whom she, at his request, euthanized. The latter still weighs on them today. Then it becomes clear that the gift from Gerhard, the amethyst jewelry that she is wearing now, was originally a gift from her first husband. In the end, Turo finally agrees to release her son.
The sixth scene begins early in the morning on a bridge over a motorway. Gerhard and his Jewish gang colleague Gokel Hershman are waiting for the goods to be handed over, which has already been prepared in the second scene. Gokel, who had to let Flühvogel ask him before, why he works for such a boss as a surviving Jew, now asks Gerhard about his motivation. Gerhard evades the question, like the similar one from Turo at the end of the second scene. The situation develops unexpectedly: the action was betrayed to the police and so there is a shooting in which Gokel is fatally shot in the lung. Turo and his people are late and have to leave him behind.
At the beginning of the seventh scene, Jörg Holtermann receives a call from the police headquarters while preparing for the flight to Paris: There was a gang fight with the police and he is now supposed to help identify a corpse. Gudula, who thought that nothing more could happen because of Turo's promise, is informed by Holtermann's secretary Gisela . The only thing Gisela can say for sure is that Gerhard survived. Dr. Flühvogel, who arrives immediately afterwards excited and completely disturbed, has more information: Turo had called him from Strasbourg , who said that he and Gerhard had escaped across the French border. Since a police officer died in the exchange of fire, there was no turning back for Gerhard either and they would both join the French Foreign Legion . The incident goes back to him, Flühvogel, because he had instigated a gang member who wanted to move to the Soviet occupation zone to report Turo to his past. However, the whole gang was also exposed, which he had not intended. Gudula, who had to spend some time in a mental hospital after the war, suffers a serious relapse and races to her death in her Porsche convertible.
The eighth scene takes place in the back room of an establishment in Hanoi , French Indochina . The troop that Turo and Gerhard belong to are on leave from the front. Turo, here called the Baron and still surrounded by some members of his much younger team, also excels in this new war. However, Gerhard suffers from a tropical disease and is increasingly overwhelmed. When his superior, Caporal Schnebli , tries to rape the local animation girl Shing , with whom Gerhard has fallen in love, Gerhard shoots him and flees with the girl.
In the ninth and final scene, Gerhard lies in the hospital of a French garrison. It is one o'clock in the morning when a French court officer, Jörg Holtermann, who visits his son one last time, informs him about the most important things: Gerhard fled to an outpost of the Việt Minh , which was soon overrun. The murder of a superior and desertion to the enemy are a double crime and only the fact that he suffered from a dangerous infectious disease and that his troops were about to be loaded meant that he was not shot on the spot. Now, after a trial, the execution is expected to take place in a few hours. The accused voluntarily waived a justification. After the officer leaves, Sister Ambrosia , who is responsible for the care , explains that the disease is so advanced that the patient can only be kept alive by strong medication - otherwise he will die before dawn. There is a final discussion between father and son. Holtermann strongly reproaches himself for having failed as a father, but Gerhard firmly rejects this and takes full responsibility for his actions. After Holtermann had assured himself that Sister Ambrosia would remain confidential, he gave Gerhard a fatal injection in order to save him from being executed. After Holtermann's departure, Gerhard dies in the nurse's arms.
Origin and background
Even before the first performance, Zuckmayer said in an interview with Heinz Rosenthal that he had the first ideas back in 1953, i.e. at the time of the action. It was a time when things seemed to be normal again, although much remained unresolved. The play is Adventist: "The witching hour is far from over, a new day has not yet dawned." The basic theme is the contradiction between the external determination of the human being, his being at the mercy, and the responsibility towards oneself that also exists. The plot is fictitious, but the subtitle “A historical drama from the present” means that the theme is “… taken from the life of our immediate surroundings, from the world in which we are, whether ten years ago or today or the day after tomorrow, everyone is standing. "
criticism
The play came off even worse than the previous drama Das kalte Licht : Peter Weiser located an involuntary self-disclosure on the occasion of the premiere in Vienna: “A German who is stunned that his people are successfully trying to cope with the past without having come to terms with the past. An emigrant who is stunned that the Jewish people, who were such an important part of the German nation, only haunt it as a shadow or a memory or as a relic that can no longer be classified. ”In the Arbeiterzeitung, the critic Fritz Walden speculated that Zuckmayer either failed to present model cases, or he tried to get closer to Jean Genet and Jean-Paul Sartre with this " colportage " , "but without [...] mastering their sophisticated diction." However, the audience said the author was present roaring applause.
Productions
- The first performance was at the Vienna Burgtheater with director Heinz Hilpert. Ernst Anders played the role of Gerhard , Paula Wessely the double role of Gudula and Sister Ambrosia , Heinz Moog that of Jörg Holtermann , Ernst Anders of Dr. Flühvogel , Peter Mosbacher from Turo von Heydenkamp and Otto Schmöle from Caporal Schnebli .
Radio play editing
- The radio play The clock strikes one. A historical drama from the present day of the Bavarian Broadcasting Corporation dates back to 1962, the first broadcast was on June 19, 1962. Director: Heinz-Günter Stamm , text adaptation: Hermann Friedrich Dollinger , music: Heinz Brüning . Hans Nielsen speaks Jürg Holtermann , Hilde Krahl : Gudula , Thomas Braut Gerhard , Helga Zeckra Isabel , Herbert Fleischmann Dr. Flühvogel , Gisela Zoch Gerlint Goosevich (Secretary), Martin Benrath Turo von Heyden Kamp , Ernst Walter Mitulski Wärrschoweit , Horst Sachtleben welding Fuchs and Hans Clarin Gokel Hershman .
expenditure
- Carl Zuckmayer: The clock strikes one. A historical drama from the present , Frankfurt am Main: S. Fischer Verlag 1961
- Carl Zuckmayer: The clock strikes one. A historical drama from the present in: The cold light. Plays. Frankfurt am Main, Fischer Taschenbuch-Verlag, 2003, 2nd edition, pp. 153 to 240 ISBN 3-596-12711-4
Individual evidence
- ↑ People (Dramatis personae) to The clock strikes one in: The cold light. Plays. Frankfurt am Main, Fischer Taschenbuch-Verlag, 2003, 2nd edition ISBN 3-596-12711-4 p. 154
- ^ Reprint of an interview by Heinz Rosenthal with Carl Zuckmayer in the appendix to the piece in: Das kalte Licht. Plays . Frankfurt am Main, Fischer Taschenbuch-Verlag, 2003, 2nd edition (pp. 244 to 248)
- ↑ S. Fischer. Theater - Medien , accessed on August 4, 2020
- ^ Fritz Walden: The clock strikes thirteen in: Arbeiter-Zeitung of October 17, 1961, p. 6 (accessed on August 4, 2020)
- ↑ Arbeiter-Zeitung of October 17, 1961, p. 6 and Beats Thirteen in: DER SPIEGEL, No. 44/1961, pp. 88-89
- ↑ ARD audio game database: The clock strikes one , accessed on August 4, 2020
