Mystery buffo
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| Title: | Mystery buffo |
| Original title: | Мистерия-буфф |
| Genus: | Heroic, epic and satirical image of our age in six acts |
| Original language: | Russian |
| Author: | Vladimir Mayakovsky |
| Premiere: | November 7, 1918 (first version), May 1, 1921 (second version) |
| Place of premiere: | Petrograd or Moscow |
| Place and time of the action: | 1. The entire universe; 2. The Ark; 3. Hell; 4. Paradise; 5. The land of ruins; 6. The Promised Land. |
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Mysterium buffo ( Russian Мистерия-буфф , Misteriya-Buff ) is a play in six acts by Vladimir Mayakovsky . The author tries to create a kind of world theater from a proletarian point of view. There are two versions of the piece. The first premiered on November 7, 1918 , on the first anniversary of the October Revolution . The second version was created from 1920 and was performed for the first time on May 1, 1921.
Content (second version)
In the prologue, an “unclean” (ie a “have-not-prolet” like the other “unclean” characters in the play) attuned the audience to the content of the six acts. It also justifies that the stage extends into the auditorium. A traditionally clear separation between stage and audience is reduced theater to the keyhole perspective.
first act
On the stage there is a globe that has a hole from which water leaks. The flood symbolized in this way has affected all parts of the world, and so gradually representatives of the “pure” and “unclean” arrive, all of whom are fleeing the water. Both groups have 14 representatives each.
The pure include: the Negus of Abyssinia, an Indian rajah, a Turkish pasha, a Russian speculator, a Mandarin, a well-fed Persian, a French ( Georges Clemenceau ), a German, a priest, an Australian and his wife, an Englishman ( David Lloyd George ), an American, a diplomat. - The unclean include: a Red Army soldier, a lantern cleaner, a driver, a miner, a carpenter, a farm worker, a servant, a blacksmith, a baker, a laundress, a seamstress, a machinist, an Eskimo fisherman, an Eskimo - Hunter. - The Compromisers, the intelligentsia (a student) and the lady with the cardboard boxes appear independently of these groups.
After the decision to build an ark, the unclean go to work.
Second act
The clean and the unclean stand at the railing of the ark while the world sinks around them. The unclean can feed themselves; the clean, on the other hand, deliberate on how to subdue the unclean again, and first elect a king, the Negus. They then set a trap for the unclean and condemn them to deliver everything edible.
While the unclean are locked in the hold, the Negus eats everything alone. The remaining pure people then call a meeting to abolish the absolute monarchy on the ark. The Negus is eventually thrown overboard as a punishment. The clean fraternize with the unclean, they agree on a democratic republic as a form of society in which the clean act as ministers while the unclean do the real work. The clean record all food and then consume it, nothing is left for the unclean.
The unclean revolt and drive the clean overboard (only the speculator can hide). The Compromiser is locked in the ship's hold, the lady and the intelligentsia are opportunistic and want to serve the new Soviet power. While the unclean hope to get to the saving mountain Ararat , an ordinary person appears on the ship's deck. In his speech, he calls on the impure to take responsibility for the world.
Third act
The pure have now ended up in hell. Supplies are scarce, which is why Beelzebub and his devils are hoping for newcomers. Eventually the unclean appear. But Beelzebub fails because they convince him that their life on earth is much worse than it could be here in hell. The unclean leave together, leaving purgatory behind them.
Fourth act
In paradise or heaven, the impure of Methuselah and the blessed are expected. However, they are disgusted by the paradise junk and the boredom and inaction and are about to destroy the paradise. The Lord of the Zebaoth appears in person, but the unclean rob him of his lightning bolts. So he cannot prevent the destruction of Paradise while the unclean rise to higher spheres.
Fifth act
Their advance brings them to the land of ruins. They dig up an old locomotive and a sea-going vessel and prepare to start them up again, even against the resistance of a group of speculators who do not like it at all. But with united forces they mine coal and extract oil in order to set off for the future.
Sixth act
Back on earth, the unclean stand at the gateway to the Promised Land. The lamp lighter looks out and describes an electrified modern world. When the gate opens and everyone sees the Promised Land with their own eyes, things, machines and food suddenly appear and convince the unclean that they are theirs. The emerging speculator who demands opportunities in the new society for his profession is immediately chased away. The piece ends with the singing of the Internationale .
Full text
- the drama in the Russian original (second version)
translation
- Mystery buffo. Heroic, epic and satirical image of our age in six acts. Translated from the Russian by Hugo Huppert . In: Wladimir Majakowski: Mysterium buffo u. a. Leipzig: Reclam 1969. pp. 29-141.
literature
- Meinolf Schumacher : “Empty guilt. The Ark story and the question of the acceptance of the unclean ”. KulturPoetik 20 (1), 2020, pp. 42–58, here pp. 56–58 ( PDF ).