Woyzeck vs Wozzeck

Woyzeck vs Wozzeck

Report by Hannah (L6) - 

On Friday 12  January Lower 6 attended a very interesting lecture titled Woyzeck vs Wozzeck by Mr Richards and Mr Punter. We learned that Woyzeck is a piece of drama, and Wozzeck is an opera inspired by it. Mr Punter believes that the drama is better, and Mr Richards prefers the opera, so this led to an exciting battle between the two to convince us all which version is the best.

Mr Punter began first with an explanation of Woyzeck. It was written in 1836 by Georg Büchner, and is recognised as the mark for modern drama. It was very interesting to hear this, as many people were surprised that 1836 was considered to be modern. The play is about an ordinary person, which was very interesting as, at the time, plays were usually written about kings.

We were then taken through some of the key scenes of the play. The first, was the scene with Marie, the mother of Woyzeck’s child, nursing her baby. Although a child would usually represent a golden future in a play, this time it represents the death of the mother.

Mr Punter then went on to explain a fight scene. He said that the scene had metal rock music, and the fight was choreographed like a ballet. This powerful approach to staging the scene really made the audience feel immersed in the sound and the play.

The tragic drowning scene was then talked about. The back wall of the stage was a tank of water. As Woyzeck walks into the tank, he lies down. In this scene, the actor was submerged for two minutes, engaging the audience.

It was then time for Mr Richards to talk about the opera version. It was composed by Alban Berg, and it was first performed in 1925. Orchestral and chamber music is used.

Interestingly, the opera took 137 rehearsals before it was ready to be performed, which was a lot. There was also a rumour that it had to be rehearsed section by section, which is not normal for an opera.

We then looked at how the opera is sectioned. Act 1 was all about Wozzeck in his relation to the world around him, Act 2 was about dramatic development, and Act 3 contains the catastrophe and the epilogue.

We then had a chance to listen to some of the music from the final stage of the opera where Wozzeck throws the knife into the pond, and the child is playing, unaware of what is going on. The music was very powerful and immersing, and presented the tragic nature of the scene very well.

Overall, the lecture was very inspiring, and we were all very grateful to have learned about the differences between Woyzeck and Wozzeck. We were encouraged to watch both the play and the opera, so that we could decide for ourselves which one is the best.