Spring Awakening: Frank Wedekind's First Play

Spring Awakening was Frank Wedekind's first play. He had it published at his own expense in 1891, but it was not performed until Wedekind started his own repertory company in 1906. The first production in the United States took place in 1912, but since the play was in German it failed to attract audiences in the States. This play was performed at Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster on 27 October 2013. This was my first time to see a live play on stage. The play was performed on a proscenium theatre. Centering on the lives of 11 young adults, "Spring Awakening" takes on controversial topics of today such as sexuality, abortion, rape, and suicide. The play, although controversial on the surface, presents an opportunity for audiences to recognize the importance of issues such as consent,
Moritz asks Melchior whether he thinks "the sense of shame is simply a product of upbringing." Spring Awakening does not question the reality of shame; instead, it raises questions about its uses, effects, and place in a community or family. The similarities and differences between women and men are explored throughout the play. When the girls discuss whether they'd rather have boy or girl children, when Melchior and Moritz wonder whether girls feel the same urges they do. Overall, the theme of gender in Spring Awakening explores how differences are perceived through the lens of gender, and how divisive these ideas of difference can become. Several different kinds of authority figures are represented throughout the play: religious authority, state authority, parental authority, medical authority, and personal authority. Most of these authority figures are undermined, shown either to be corrupt or at least incompetent. However, personal authority often leads to no better - and indeed, often even worse - results. Melchior and Moritz go wrong when they attempt to act completely