La Ronde (play)
Encyclopedia
La Ronde is a 1900 play by Arthur Schnitzler
. It scrutinizes the sexual morals
and class
ideology
of its day through a series of encounters between pairs of characters (shown before or after a sexual encounter). By choosing characters across all levels of society, the play offers social commentary on how sexual contact transgresses boundaries of class. At first Schnitzler circulated the play privately among friends—it was not publicly performed until 1920, some two decades later, when it elicited violent critical and popular reactions against its subject matter. Schnitzler was attacked as a Jewish pornographer and the outcry came to be known as the "Reigen scandal." The titles of the play—in German
Reigen and in French
La Ronde—refer to a round dance
, as portrayed in the English nursery rhyme
Ring a Ring o' Roses. The imagery suggests the transmission and diffusion of venereal disease (specifically syphilis
) throughout all social classes.
, selling some 40,000 copies, but was censored a year later. In 1908 it was published in Germany. In 1920, La Ronde was translated to English and published as Hands Around.
Schnitzler suffered moralistic and personal attacks that became virulently anti-Semitic. Despite a 1921 Berlin court verdict that dismissed charges of immorality against the play, Schnitzler withdrew La Ronde himself from public production in German-speaking countries. The play remained popular in Russia, Czechoslovakia, and especially in France, where it was adapted for the cinema twice. Forty years after Arthur Schnitzler’s death, in 1982 his son released La Ronde for German-language performances.
In 1922, the founder of psychoanalysis
Sigmund Freud
wrote to Schnitzler that "you have learned through intuition—though actually as a result of sensitive introspection—everything that I have had to unearth by laborious work on other persons."
in the 1890s in Vienna
. Its dramatic structure
consists of ten interlocking scenes between pairs of lovers. Each of its ten characters appears in two consecutive scenes (with one from the final scene, The Whore, having appeared in the first).
Scenes:
, rendering the Young Gentleman and the Husband as communist politicians. Michael John LaChiusa
's musical
adaptation Hello Again
was produced off-Broadway
in 1994. David Hare
's The Blue Room re-located its action to contemporary London
, where it was first staged at the Donmar Warehouse
in 1998. There have been four notable gay
versions of the story: Eric Bentley
's Round 2 (1986) is set in New York in the 1970s; Jack Heifner's Seduction
and Michael Kearns
's pro-safe-sex piece Complications (2004) (Complications was remade as Dean Howell
's film Nine Lives); and Joe DiPietro
's Fucking Men
(2008) (which is set in contemporary New York).
A new musical gay version, written by Peter Scott-Presland with music by David Harrod is running at the Rosemary Branch Theatre
in London in March-April 2011.
A new contemporary adaptation, by American playwright Steven Dietz Steven Dietz
, is called "360 (round dance)". It is scheduled to premiere in November, 2011 http://texasperformingarts.org/event/rounddance.
Arthur Schnitzler
Dr. Arthur Schnitzler was an Austrian author and dramatist.- Biography :Arthur Schnitzler, son of a prominent Hungarian-Jewish laryngologist Johann Schnitzler and Luise Markbreiter , was born in Praterstraße 16, Leopoldstadt, Vienna, in the Austro-Hungarian...
. It scrutinizes the sexual morals
Morality
Morality is the differentiation among intentions, decisions, and actions between those that are good and bad . A moral code is a system of morality and a moral is any one practice or teaching within a moral code...
and class
Social class
Social classes are economic or cultural arrangements of groups in society. Class is an essential object of analysis for sociologists, political scientists, economists, anthropologists and social historians. In the social sciences, social class is often discussed in terms of 'social stratification'...
ideology
Ideology
An ideology is a set of ideas that constitutes one's goals, expectations, and actions. An ideology can be thought of as a comprehensive vision, as a way of looking at things , as in common sense and several philosophical tendencies , or a set of ideas proposed by the dominant class of a society to...
of its day through a series of encounters between pairs of characters (shown before or after a sexual encounter). By choosing characters across all levels of society, the play offers social commentary on how sexual contact transgresses boundaries of class. At first Schnitzler circulated the play privately among friends—it was not publicly performed until 1920, some two decades later, when it elicited violent critical and popular reactions against its subject matter. Schnitzler was attacked as a Jewish pornographer and the outcry came to be known as the "Reigen scandal." The titles of the play—in German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
Reigen and in French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
La Ronde—refer to a round dance
Round dance
There are two distinct dance categories called round dance. The specific dances belonging to the first of these categories are often considered to be ethnic, folk or country dances...
, as portrayed in the English nursery rhyme
Nursery rhyme
The term nursery rhyme is used for "traditional" poems for young children in Britain and many other countries, but usage only dates from the 19th century and in North America the older ‘Mother Goose Rhymes’ is still often used.-Lullabies:...
Ring a Ring o' Roses. The imagery suggests the transmission and diffusion of venereal disease (specifically syphilis
Syphilis
Syphilis is a sexually transmitted infection caused by the spirochete bacterium Treponema pallidum subspecies pallidum. The primary route of transmission is through sexual contact; however, it may also be transmitted from mother to fetus during pregnancy or at birth, resulting in congenital syphilis...
) throughout all social classes.
Publication and reception
La Ronde was first published in 1900 for private circulation. In 1903, the first German-language edition was published in ViennaVienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, selling some 40,000 copies, but was censored a year later. In 1908 it was published in Germany. In 1920, La Ronde was translated to English and published as Hands Around.
Schnitzler suffered moralistic and personal attacks that became virulently anti-Semitic. Despite a 1921 Berlin court verdict that dismissed charges of immorality against the play, Schnitzler withdrew La Ronde himself from public production in German-speaking countries. The play remained popular in Russia, Czechoslovakia, and especially in France, where it was adapted for the cinema twice. Forty years after Arthur Schnitzler’s death, in 1982 his son released La Ronde for German-language performances.
In 1922, the founder of psychoanalysis
Psychoanalysis
Psychoanalysis is a psychological theory developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by Austrian neurologist Sigmund Freud. Psychoanalysis has expanded, been criticized and developed in different directions, mostly by some of Freud's former students, such as Alfred Adler and Carl Gustav...
Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud , born Sigismund Schlomo Freud , was an Austrian neurologist who founded the discipline of psychoanalysis...
wrote to Schnitzler that "you have learned through intuition—though actually as a result of sensitive introspection—everything that I have had to unearth by laborious work on other persons."
Plot outline
The play is setSetting (fiction)
In fiction, setting includes the time, location, and everything in which a story takes place, and initiates the main backdrop and mood for a story. Setting has been referred to as story world or milieu to include a context beyond the immediate surroundings of the story. Elements of setting may...
in the 1890s in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
. Its dramatic structure
Dramatic structure
Dramatic structure is the structure of a dramatic work such as a play or film. Many scholars have analyzed dramatic structure, beginning with Aristotle in his Poetics...
consists of ten interlocking scenes between pairs of lovers. Each of its ten characters appears in two consecutive scenes (with one from the final scene, The Whore, having appeared in the first).
Scenes:
- The Whore and the Soldier
- The Soldier and the Parlor Maid
- The Parlor Maid and the Young Gentleman
- The Young Gentleman and the Young Wife
- The Young Wife and The Husband
- The Husband and the Little Miss
- The Little Miss and the Poet
- The Poet and the Actress
- The Actress and the Count
- The Count and the Whore
Theatrical adaptations
Many playwrights have produced adaptations of Schnitzler's play. In 1989, Mihály Kornis re-located its action to communist-era HungaryHungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
, rendering the Young Gentleman and the Husband as communist politicians. Michael John LaChiusa
Michael John LaChiusa
Michael John LaChiusa is an American musical theatre and opera composer, lyricist, and librettist. He is best known for complex, musically challenging shows such as Hello Again, Marie Christine, The Wild Party, and See What I Wanna See...
's musical
Musical theatre
Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...
adaptation Hello Again
Hello Again (musical)
Hello Again is musical with music, lyrics and book by Michael John LaChiusa. It is based on the 1897 play La Ronde by Arthur Schnitzler...
was produced off-Broadway
Off-Broadway
Off-Broadway theater is a term for a professional venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, and for a specific production of a play, musical or revue that appears in such a venue, and which adheres to related trade union and other contracts...
in 1994. David Hare
David Hare (dramatist)
Sir David Hare is an English playwright and theatre and film director.-Early life:Hare was born in St Leonards-on-Sea, Hastings, East Sussex, the son of Agnes and Clifford Hare, a sailor. He was educated at Lancing, an independent school in West Sussex, and at Jesus College, Cambridge...
's The Blue Room re-located its action to contemporary London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, where it was first staged at the Donmar Warehouse
Donmar Warehouse
Donmar Warehouse is a small not-for-profit theatre in the Covent Garden area of London, with a capacity of 251.-About:Under the artistic leadership of Michael Grandage, the theatre has presented some of London’s most memorable award-winning theatrical experiences, as well as garnered critical...
in 1998. There have been four notable gay
Gay
Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
versions of the story: Eric Bentley
Eric Bentley
Eric Bentley is a critic, playwright, singer, editor and translator. He became an American citizen in 1948, and currently lives in New York City...
's Round 2 (1986) is set in New York in the 1970s; Jack Heifner's Seduction
Seduction (2004 play)
Seduction is a play by Jack Heifner. It is an all male, gay adaptationof La Ronde by Arthur Schnitzler.The encounters closely follow those of Schnitzler's play, with the following sequence:# The Sex Worker and the Sailor...
and Michael Kearns
Michael Kearns
Michael Kearns is an American actor, writer, director, teacher, producer, and activist. He is noted for being the first openly gay actor, and after an announcement on Entertainment Tonight in 1991, the first openly HIV positive actor in Hollywood.-Early life and education:Kearns was born in St....
's pro-safe-sex piece Complications (2004) (Complications was remade as Dean Howell
Dean Howell
Dean George Howell is an English footballer who plays for Crawley Town. He plays at left-back or left-midfield.-Schoolboy and trainee:...
's film Nine Lives); and Joe DiPietro
Joe DiPietro
Joe DiPietro is an American playwright and author.Born in Teaneck, New Jersey, DiPietro grew up in nearby Oradell. Son of the banker Lou, and Jean DiPietro. He attended Oradell Public School and River Dell Regional High School. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Rutgers University in 1984 with a...
's Fucking Men
Fucking Men
Fucking Men is a play by Joe DiPietro. It premiered at the King's Head Theatre in the London Borough of Islington, directed by Phil Willmott. It opened on 9 January 2009 and was extended three times due to strong sales, and later ran in repertory with Naked Boys Singing...
(2008) (which is set in contemporary New York).
A new musical gay version, written by Peter Scott-Presland with music by David Harrod is running at the Rosemary Branch Theatre
Rosemary Branch Theatre
Rosemary Branch Theatre is a theatre above a public house, in Islington on the borders of Hackney and Shoreditch. It has a capacity of 57 seats, expandable to 65. The pub is a freehouse and the venue is independent and privately-owned.- Stage :...
in London in March-April 2011.
A new contemporary adaptation, by American playwright Steven Dietz Steven Dietz
Steven Dietz
Steven Dietz is an American playwright whose work is largely performed regionally, i.e. outside of New York City...
, is called "360 (round dance)". It is scheduled to premiere in November, 2011 http://texasperformingarts.org/event/rounddance.
Television adaptations
In his autobiography, Never Have Your Dog Stuffed: and Other Things I've Learned, Alan Alda says that for the first story he wrote for M*A*S*H he borrowed the structure from La Ronde. "In my version, the object that's passed from couple to couple is a pair of long johns during a cold spell in the Korean winter."Cinematic adaptations
These films are based upon La Ronde (1896), some without crediting the play or the playwright:- La RondeLa Ronde (1950 film)La Ronde is a 1950 film directed by Max Ophüls and based on Arthur Schnitzler's 1897 play of the same name. The title means "the round-dance".The film was nominated for two Academy Awards; for Best Writing and Best Art Direction...
(Max OphülsMax OphülsMaximillian Oppenheimer — known as Max Ophüls — was an influential German-born film director who worked in Germany , France , the United States , and France again...
, 1950) - La RondeLa Ronde (1964 film)La Ronde is a 1964 film directed by Roger Vadim and based on Arthur Schnitzler's 1897 play of the same name.-Cast:* Jean-Claude Brialy - Alfred / Der 'Junge Herr'...
(Roger VadimRoger VadimRoger Vadim was a French screenwriter, director, and producer as well as a journalist, author and actor, who launched Brigitte Bardot's career in the film And God Created Woman.-Early life:...
, 1964) - Hot Circuit (Richard Lerner, 1971)
- Reigen (Otto SchenkOtto SchenkOtto Schenk is an Austrian actor, and theater and opera director.-Life and career:Schenk was born to Catholic parents. His father, a lawyer, had Jewish roots and therefore lost his job after the Anschluss in 1938...
, 1973) - La Ronde (Kenneth IvesKenneth IvesKenneth Ives is a British actor turned director with a number of 1960s and 1970s television credits.As an actor he appeared in the 1968 film version of The Lion in Winter, the 1970 BBC serial Last of the Mohicans as Hawkeye, and had roles in Adam Adamant Lives! and as one of the eponymous villains...
, 1982) - New York Nights (Simon Nuchtern, 1983)
- Choose MeChoose MeChoose Me is a 1984 American comedy-drama film directed and written by Alan Rudolph. It was rated R by the MPAA. The film's tagline is In the middle of the night, when there's no one else...-Synopsis:...
(Alan Rudolph, 1984) - La ronde de l'amour (Gérard Kikoïne, 1985)
- Karrusel (Claus Bjerre, 1998)
- Love in the Time of Money (Peter MatteiPeter MatteiPeter Mattei is a Swedish operatic baritone, particularly known for his performances in Mozart's baritone roles.- Biography :...
, 2002) - Nine Lives (Dean Howell, 2004)
- Sexual Life (Ken KwapisKen KwapisKen Kwapis is an American film and television director and screenwriter. He specialized in the single-camera sitcom in the 1990s and 2000s and has directed feature films such as Sesame Street Presents Follow That Bird, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, and He's Just Not That Into...
, 20052005 in film- Highest-grossing films :Please note that following the tradition of the English-language film industry, these are the top-grossing films that were first released in the United States in 2005...
) - Three Sixty (writer: Peter MorganPeter MorganPeter Morgan may refer to:* Peter Morgan , British sports car manufacturer* Peter Morgan , 1978 British Formula Ford champion* Peter Morgan , Wales and British lions international...
, in development)
Sources
- Banham, Martin, ed. 1998. The Cambridge Guide to Theatre. Cambridge: Cambridge UP. ISBN 0521434378.