Theater and Nation in Eighteenth-Century Germany

This is a clearly written study of the development of national theatres and national consciousness in eighteenth-century Germany. While the country did not become a nation state until 1871, the establishment of national theatres anticipated this political transition by over a hundred years with the Hamburg National Theatre in 1767, the revamping of the Burgtheater in Vienna as a national theatre in 1776, and the creation of national theatres in Mannheim, Berlin and elsewhere. Sosulski traces the advocacy of a German (as opposed to French, English or Italian) repertory by J. E. Schlegel, Lessing, Schiller and others that culminated in the Sturm und Drang plays of the late eighteenth century. He shows that this occurred in parallel with a new emphasis on actors' training and discipline (under Konrad Ekhof), a more realistic performance style (notably by August Wilhelm Iffland) alongside the introduction of rigorous physical discipline in the Prussian military, and extensive physical education in schools, promoted by Guts Muths and leading to a widespread gymnastic movement inspired by Friedrich Ludwig Jahn.