Pandora's Box

About this film

LibriVox recording of Pandora's Box by Frank Wedekind, translated by Samuel Atkins Eliot, Jr. Pandora's Box (1904) (Die Büchse der Pandora) is a play by the German dramatist Frank Wedekind. It forms the second part of his pairing of 'Lulu' plays (the first is Earth Spirit [1895]), both of which depict a society "riven by the demands of lust and greed". G. W. Pabst directed a silent film version (Pandora's Box), which was loosely based on the play, in 1929. Both plays together also formed the basis for the opera Lulu by Alban Berg in 1935 (premiered posthumously in 1937). Following the events of Earth Spirit , Pandora's Box charts the downward spiral of Lulu and her companions. Lulu once again plays the role of unwitting temptress, a siren-like libertine who seals the destruction of her friends and lovers. The play begins with Lulu's escape from prison, shows us the formation of a perverse makeshift family unit, and documents the deterioration of her social standing and personal freedom. With an almost fatalistic precision, Wedekind concludes the play in a shocking scene of vice and violence. The premiere of Pandora's Box, a restricted performance due to difficulties with the censor…

Directors & creators

Frank Wedekind

Subjects

librivox; audio; drama; play; wedekind; lulu; modernist drama; german literature

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