Death of a Private

Summary

1967 BBC production of Death of a Private, Robert Muller’s adaptation of Woyzeck which was left unfinished by Georg Büchner. Muller sets the action in modern Britain, not 19th-century Germany.

Theatre play

Woyzeck by Georg Büchner (1813-1837) [more information]

Play synopsis

'Franz Woyzeck, a lowly soldier stationed in a provincial German town, is living with Marie, the mother of his child which is not blessed by the church as it was born out of wedlock. Woyzeck earns extra money for his family by performing menial jobs for the Captain and agreeing to take part in medical experiments conducted by the Doctor. As one of these experiments, the Doctor tells Woyzeck that he must eat nothing but peas. It is obvious that Woyzeck’s mental health is breaking down and he begins to experience a series of apocalyptic visions. Meanwhile, Marie grows tired of Woyzeck and turns her attentions to a handsome drum major who, in an ambiguous scene taking place in Marie’s bedroom, sleeps with her. With his jealous suspicions growing, Woyzeck confronts the drum major, who beats him up and humiliates him. Finally, Woyzeck stabs Marie to death by a pond. While a third act trial is claimed by some to have been part of the original conception, the fragment, as left by Büchner, ends with Woyzeck disposing of the knife in the pond and most renditions extrapolate this with him drowning while trying to clean himself of the blood after having dumped the knife in deep waters’ (source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woyzeck, accessed 15 November 2012).

Production history

'The work was left in a fragmentary state on Büchner’s death, ‘but it has been variously and posthumously "finished" by a variety of authors, editors and translators. Woyzeck has become one of the most performed and influential plays in the German theatre repertory. [...] Büchner probably began writing the play between June and September 1836. It remained in a fragmentary state at the time of his early death in 1837. Woyzeck was first published in 1879 in a heavily reworked version by Karl Emil Franzos. It received its first performance on November 8, 1913 at the Residenztheater, Munich’ (source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woyzeck, accessed 15 November 2012).

Date of transmission

Wednesday 13 December 1967

Time

9.05-10.25pm

Series

Wednesday Play

Channel

BBC1

Production company

BBC

Credits

Director

James Ferman (1930-2002)

Producer

Irene Shubik

Playwright

Georg Büchner (1813-1837)

Adapted for Television by

Robert Muller

Music

Ron Grainer

Designer

Chris Pemsel

Cast

David Bedard	The Clergyman
Jack Bligh	The Shopkeeper
Kenneth Cranham	The Young Intellectual
Dev Douglas	Andy
Harry Fowler	The Comedian
Dennis Golding	Boy
Harry Hutchinson	The Sandwich Man
Godfrey James	The Sergeant
John Little	The First Redcap
John Nettleton	The Captain
Margaret Nolan	Margie
Liam Redmond	The Doctor
Geraldine Sherman	Mary
Charles Stuart	The Pop Singer
Dudley Sutton	Private Watt
Ralph Watson	The Second Redcap

Additional details

Play tags

19th-century setting; adultery / infidelity; German drama; mental health / illness; murder

Print sources

Title

Radio Times, 7 December 1967 (Magazine)

Linking notes

long, illustrated article, p. 47; listing, p. 50