18:00, Thu 25th April 2019 at University Library, Rare Books Reading Room
Easter Week 0

'The Great Wurstel' is a 'puppet play' by Arthur Schnitzler, Austria's most famous playwright, and is considered his most radical dramatic experiment which challenges conventional notions of theatre.
This is your chance to be part of the first ever theatre performance to be held in the University Library! A site-specific form of theatre in the Reading Room which puts the body centre-stage and explores the archival material in its natural habitat.

The theatrical parody makes room for a staged audience which is observed by the real audience, which both come to observe the puppet play within the play. It can be performed by puppets or, as Schnitzler hoped, by 'puppetlike' human actors, and raises far-reaching questions about what it means to be human and how to represent that humanity on stage.

This production is a collaboration with theatre professionals, students and with the Schnitzler Digital Edition Project, which has been producing a digital critical edition of the literary works of Arthur Schnitzler. The performance will be part of a launch event of the digital edition 'Arthur Schnitzler digital' to be hosted by the Cambridge University Library.
https://www.arthur-schnitzler.de/