Comedy in the Weimar Republic: A Chronicle of Incongruous Laughter (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9780313299834)

Theatre was one of many German institutions experiencing profound change in the aftermath of World War I. Grange contends that had comedy not prevailed throughout the turbulent years of the ill-fated Weimar experiment in democracy, much of theatre would have died along with the republic itself. Audiences attended performances of comedies in numbers far surpassing those of any other form of theatre.

Theatre was one of many German institutions experiencing profound change in the aftermath of World War I. Grange contends that had comedy not prevailed throughout the turbulent years of the ill-fated Weimar experiment in democracy, much of theatre would have died along with the republic itself. Audiences attended performances of comedies in numbers far surpassing those of any other form of theatre. Industrial comedy describes the most important and most predominant form of comedy on German stages from 1919 to 1933. Discoveries, reversals, mistaken identities, and abrupt plot twists were its stock-in-trade. Scholars and students of theatre as well as modern German history will find this a fascinating look at why Germans were laughing, and what they were laughing at, as their society crumbled around them.

Author: William Grange
ISBN-10: 0313299838
ISBN-13: 9780313299834
Publisher: Praeger
Language: English
Published: 10/11/1996
Pages: 184
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 0.97lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.56d