Hercules and the stable of Augiah

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Data
Title: Hercules and the stable of Augiah
Genus: comedy
Original language: German
Author: Friedrich Dürrenmatt
Publishing year: 1963
Premiere: March 20, 1963
Place of premiere: Schauspielhaus Zurich , Zurich
people
  • Hercules , national hero
  • Deianeira , his lover
  • Polybios , his secretary
  • Augias , President of Elis
  • Phyleus , his son
  • Iole , his daughter
  • Cambyses , his groom
  • Lichas , a postman
  • Tantalos , ringmaster
  • ten parliamentarians
  • two stage workers

Hercules and the stable of Augiah is a radio play and play by the Swiss author Friedrich Dürrenmatt . The radio play was written in 1954 and was broadcast by Nordwestdeutscher Rundfunk in the same year . The piece was first published in print in 1954 by Arche Verlag . In 1962 Dürrenmatt wrote a stage version of the play, which premiered in 1963 in the Zurich Schauspielhaus . In 1980 Dürrenmatt wrote a new version for his work edition, which was published by Diogenes Verlag .

people

  • Hercules: national hero
  • Deianeira: his mistress
  • Polybios: his secretary
  • Augias: President of Elis
  • Phyleus: his son
  • Cambyses: his groom
  • Tantalos: ringmaster
  • Parliamentarians, ambassadors

only in radio play:

  • Mr. Schmied: Elementary school teacher
  • Xenophon: editor

only in the play:

  • Iole: daughter of Augiah
  • Lichas: Postman

content

Because of the constantly growing manure, life in Elis is becoming more and more unbearable. Therefore Augias, President of Elis, decides, together with his parliament, to offer the Greek national hero Hercules a considerable fee and travel expenses and to entrust him with the task of cleaning up Elis. It was said that Hercules was the greatest purifier of Greece. Hercules does not feel much desire to accept the order, because as a national hero he wants to deal with robbers and dragons, in this sense he was a purifier, King Augias had obviously misunderstood this. However, his secretary Polybios reminds him of his enormous debts and the costs involved in the representative duties of a hero.

So Hercules embarks with his lover Deianeira and his secretary. He received an enthusiastic welcome in Elis, especially from the women. Hercules is introduced to the representatives of the most important associations and commissions and puts up his tents on a rock above the city, from where the city resembles a huge pile of dung. The day after the reception celebrations, the hero and Augias inspected the enormous masses of dung. Hercules advises directing the Alpheios and Peneios rivers through the capital and thus cleaning up Elis.

Phyleus, the son of Augias, sees a higher form of human existence embodied in the beautiful Deianeira, therefore falls in love with her and hopes to be able to civilize and cultivate the backward country with her at his side. Hercules and Deianeira, whose relationship is heavily burdened by their reputation as the ideal couple, the affection of the Phyleus is not inconvenient. Deianeira also suspects that one distant day she will put the Nessos shirt on Hercules . Therefore she would be willing to stay with Phyleus in Elis, Hercules also agrees. But the clearing out is faced with unexpected obstacles and the purification of the state is repeatedly postponed. Phyleus knows that Deianeira would not stay in the uncleaned Elis.

Due to his increasing age, Hercules suffers from the demands that women place on a hero. In order not to disappoint these expectations of his manhood, Hercules persuades the groom Cambyses to take over his role and attend the female admirers. In the end, however, Cambyses also fails before this Herculean work and refuses his services. Now Iole, the daughter of Augias, comes to Hercules to give herself to the hero like so many young Eli women. When he refuses, she believes she has been rejected until Hercules clarifies the truth to her. The character of the Iole does not appear in the radio play . Therefore this scene is also missing.

Commissions deliberate in endless meetings. It is pointed out that immense art treasures could be hidden under the dung, which were lost through the mucking out. The low number of tuberculosis sufferers is also due to the dung. The deliberations dragged on until Hercules finally used up the advance granted to him. Hercules, who is also harassed by creditors, sees himself forced to perform in the Tantalos circus. When the hero in this hopeless situation reaches the embassy of the King of Arcadia, in which he asks for the removal of the Stymphalic birds for a fee and travel expenses , Hercules and Deianeira decide to leave the country uncleaned.

background

Hercules is the Latin name of the mythical ancient Greek hero Heracles , to whom divine honors were given and who was accepted into Olympus. In a fit of madness, Heracles slew his wife Megara and his three children. When the fit was over and he realized what he had done , he asked the Oracle of Delphi for advice. The Pythia replied that if he served Eurystheus for twelve years and carried out the work required of him , he could attain atonement . One of the acts was the mucking out of the cattle stables of Augias , king of Elis in the Peloponnese . His sons were Phileas and Agasthenes. He had a daughter named Agamede, not Iole.

Heracles completed the task set for him by directing the Alpheios and Peneios rivers through the stable. Augias then refused his wages and denied having promised Heracles the cattle as wages. Then he was ready to submit to the judgment of a court. However, when his son Phileas confirmed the testimony of Heracles before the judges, Augias had them both driven out of the country. Heracles later returned, conquered Elis, killed Augias and handed the kingdom over to his son Phileas. To celebrate this victory, Heracles also instituted the Olympic Games in honor of his father Zeus.

Only after the fabulous 12 jobs had been done did Heracles get to know the beautiful Deianeira , who then also became his wife. One day they both had to cross a river that was flooding. The centaur Nessos offers the young woman to carry her on his back, but then tries to kidnap her. Heracles shot him one of his deadly arrows. When Nessos, who had been hit, was dying, he gave the woman the treacherous advice to keep some of his blood and to soak Hercules' robe with it if she was no longer sure of his love, because then he would never look at another woman again . But his blood was poisoned by the death arrow.

Some time afterwards, Heracles turned to the captured beautiful Iole , who was later to marry his son Hyllos . In Dürrenmatt's play, Iole is Augean’s daughter. Then Deianeira smeared his undergarment with the Nessos blood. After throwing it on, the heroes were in excruciating pain. Since he could not take off his shirt either, Hercules burned himself at a stake. Deianeira killed herself out of desperation.

radio play

Dürrenmatt wrote a draft for the radio play in 1953. The radio play itself was created in 1954 and was broadcast by Nordwestdeutscher Rundfunk in the same year . Directed by Gert Westphal . Speakers of the main roles were:

This broadcast was taken over by Radio Bern and broadcast on October 20, 1954. A printed version was also published by Arche Verlag that same year . The draft for the radio play was first published in 1963 in the program booklet for the premiere of the comedy version.

Play

In 1962 Dürrenmatt wrote a stage version of the play, which in the manuscript was subtitled A story for the stage with dramatic vignettes . The dramatic piece finally comprised 15 scenes with a pause after the sixth picture and was subtitled A Comedy in 15 Pictures . The world premiere took place on March 20, 1963 in the Zurich Schauspielhaus . Directed by Leonard Steckel . The piece was cast as follows:

After the failed premiere, Dürrenmatt revised the text. This version was published in print by Arche Verlag in 1963 . In 1980 Dürrenmatt wrote a new version of the play for his work, which was published by Diogenes Verlag .

Press reviews

“The tragic comedy of the hero who has become superfluous, who is a lopsided model, artificially established by people who expect something from such a model, who doesn't even know how much he is no longer needed. Hercules is dead before he dies, a living corpse, the caricature of the hero, of whom there is no longer an undistorted picture of whom there is no longer an undistorted image. "

- Zurich week

“The play makes fun of meager democracy and useless heroism. Dürrenmatt's satire is pervasive in this piece. "

- The Times

expenditure

radio play

  • 1954: Friedrich Dürrenmatt: Hercules and the Augean stable . Ark Publishing House ; 66 pp.
  • 1960: Friedrich Dürrenmatt: Hercules and the Augean stable . New edition. Ark Publishing House; 66 pp.
  • 1961: Friedrich Dürrenmatt: Hercules and the Augean stable . In: Collected radio plays . Ark Publishing House; 317 pp.

Play

  • 1963: Friedrich Dürrenmatt: Hercules and the Augean stable. A festival . Ark Publishing House; 88 p. With drawings by Friedrich Dürrenmatt
  • 1963: Friedrich Dürrenmatt: Hercules and the Augean stable. A comedy . In: Comedies II and Early Pieces . Ark Publishing House; 429 pp.

Radio play and play

  • 1980: Friedrich Dürrenmatt: Hercules and the Augean stable / The trial of the donkey's shadow: Greek pieces. New versions from 1980. Diogenes Verlag ; 228 pp., Paperback , ISBN 3257208383
  • 1998: Friedrich Dürrenmatt: Hercules and the Augean stable / The trial of the donkey's shadow: Greek pieces. New versions from 1980. Diogenes Verlag; 228 pp., Paperback , ISBN 3257230486

Audio book

Short version read by Friedrich Dürrenmatt:

  • 1957: Friedrich Dürrenmatt: Hercules and the Augean stable . Deutsche Grammophon , 1 LP
  • 2000: Friedrich Dürrenmatt: Hercules and the Augean stable . Deutsche Grammophon, 1 CD, ISBN 8946398426

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Dürrenmatt: Hercules and the stable of Augias / The trial of the donkey's shadow . Diogenes 1980. pp. 227-228
  2. ↑ Dürrenmatt: Hercules and the stable of Augias / The trial of the donkey's shadow . Diogenes 1980. pp. 227-228
  3. ↑ Dürrenmatt: Hercules and the stable of Augias / The trial of the donkey's shadow . Diogenes 1980. pp. 227-228
  4. ↑ Quoted from diogenes.ch
  5. ↑ Quoted from diogenes.ch

Web links