The Conflagration is a German play written by Gerhart Hauptmann

Gerhart Hauptmann

Gerhart Hauptmann was a German dramatist and novelist who received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1912.-Life and work:...

 (1862–1946). Like Henrik Ibsen

Henrik Ibsen

Henrik Ibsen was a major 19th-century Norwegian playwright, theatre director, and poet. He is often referred to as "the father of prose drama" and is one of the founders of Modernism in the theatre...

, Hauptmann focuses attention on social issues. Unlike The Weavers (play)

The Weavers (play)

The Weavers is a play written by the German playwright Gerhart Hauptmann in 1892.-Plot summary:Most of the characters are proletarians struggling for their rights. Unlike most plays of any period, as pointed out many times in literature criticism and introductions, the play has no true central...

 (1892) and The Assumption of Hannele

The Assumption of Hannele

The Assumption of Hannele , also known simply as Hannele, is an 1893 play by the German playwright Gerhart Hauptmann. In contrast to Hauptmann's naturalistic dramas, The Assumption of Hannele adopts a more symbolist dramaturgy and includes a dream sequence. The play is the first in world literature...

 (1893), this play does not seem to have been performed on Broadway. However, it has been adapted as a German film (1962). The director was John Olden, starring Rudolf Platte

Rudolf Platte

-Selected filmography:* Gold * Columbus Discovers Kraehwinkel * Mamitschka * Dr. Sibelius * Destination Death * Veronika Voss...

 as Schuhmachermeister Fielitz and Inge Meysel

Inge Meysel

Inge Meysel was a German actress. From the early 1960s until her death, Meysel was one of Germany's most popular actresses...

 as Frau Fielitz.

Dramatic characters, scene, and period

Fielitz, cobbler

Mrs. Fielitz, his wife

Leontine, her oldest daughter by her first marriage

Schmarowski, architect and son-in-law to the Fielitz'

Langheinrich, smith

Rauchhaupt, retired Prussian constable

Gustav, his oldest son, congenital imbecile

Mieze, Lottle, Trude, Lenchen,

Lieschen, Mariechen, Tienchen, Hannchen, his daughters

Dr. Boxer, physician of Jewish birth

Von Wehrhahn, justice
Ede, journeyman at Langheinrich's

Glasenapp, clerk in the Justice's Court

Schulze, constable

Mrs. Schulze, his aunt

Tschache, constable

A fireman

A boy

Janitor of the Court

Village people
Scene: In the neighbourhood of Berlin

Berlin

Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

, around 1901

Plot

Fielitz, a cobbler, is arguing with his wife, who wants them to stop toiling for nothing. She suggests committing arson, setting fire to their house to obtain insurance money. Von Wehrhahn arrives, Mrs. Fielitz being formely known as Wolff and his housekeeper. Neighbors arrive as well: Langheinrich, a smith, and Rauchhaupt, a retired constable. They make comments about the iron cross inscribed by Rauchhaupt on the grave of her former husband. Later, Langheinrich receives the visit of Dr Boxer, who has returned after being at sea for several years. Gustav, Rauchhaupt's mentally handicapped son, enters briskly, excited, making sounds from his mouth seeming like a trumpet. He drops a box of matches. There is a fire at the Fielitz house, Langheinrich being called as a voluntary fireman. The business is investigated by Wehrhahn, who concludes, contrary to his father's belief, that Gustav is guilty and must be sent away. Despite Rauchhaupt's suspicions, the Fielitz are never found out. They profit by it, together with their family, including their prosperous son-in-law to their daughter, Schmarowski, an architect. Nevertheless, the stress of the experience seems to have affected Fielitz' brain, Mrs Fielitz feels poorly, and just as Fielitz bursts in the room exclaiming: "Me ... me ... me ... me ... it was me that did it!", his wife wanders, her arms thrashing about, and dies.