THEATRE STUDIES Journal of Japanese society for Theatre Research
Online ISSN : 2189-7816
Print ISSN : 1348-2815
ISSN-L : 1348-2815
Research Article
Attempts at Theater Reform and Principles of the Court Comédienne Caroline NEUBER: Focusing on Ein deutsches Vorspiel
Ekiko KOBAYASHI
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JOURNAL FREE ACCESS

2014 Volume 58 Pages 57-72

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Abstract

Friederike Caroline NEUBER (1697-1760) was a privileged German comédienne who cooperated with Professor GOTTSCHED in the theatre reform in Leipzig. However, compared to her pioneering activities, her original dramas and rules are not so much known. In this paper Ein deutsches Vorspiel (1734) and Die von der Weissheit wider die Unwissenheit beschützte Schauspielkunst (1736) are focused on and her innovation at the dawn of the German Enlightenment is considered.

GOTTSCHED asked NEUBER to abolish Harlequin though the troupe was actually strong in comedies. In Ein deutsches Vorspiel her dramatic rules are declared: actors impersonating gods on Mount Parnassus discuss comedies and tragedies. Talia, the god of comedy, echos GOTTSCHED's words. This play followed Impromptu de Versailles by MOLIÈRE, whose theater, the Comédie-Français, she longed for. This comédien aimed to show human faults and then to please the spectators. On the other hand, Caroline NEUBER had the ideals of improving the behaviour of people and purifying them with comedies. Despite her confidence in Schauspielkunst the troupe lost the audience.

After bankruptcy she revived the harlequin, which LESSING defended in the Hamburg Dramaturg. The pastoral Die Schäferfeste oder die Herbstfreude (1753) had been a success when performed in Wien in the presence of the empress Maria Teresia. This play has a naïve story of a simple love triangle among the shepherds, yet it creates active comic scenes with four funny servants and without harlequins, and among the characters, Mops acts as a ‘Lustigmacher’ who has potentially the elements of a fool. In this attempt her practice and originality would go beyond GOTTSCHED.

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© 2014 Japanese Society for Theatre Research
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