Theatre
Absurda Comica oder Herr Peter Squenz
Not translated into English
Andreas Gryphius · 1658
Opening lines
Peter Squentz
Edler, woledler, hochedler, woledelgeborner herr Pickelhäring von Pickelhäringsheim und Saltznasen!
Noble, right noble, high and noble, nobly well-born Lord Pickelhäring of Pickelhäringsheim and Saltznasen!
Translation by Erostrate
Text quoted from zeno.org
Synopsis
Peter Squentz, a village clerk and schoolmaster, learns that the king likes entertaining tragedies. He gathers tradesmen, a blacksmith, a joiner, a weaver and others, with the king's jester, to perform before the court Pyramus and Thisbe, taken from Ovid's Metamorphoses: one will play the moon, another the wall, another the fountain, another the lion. To dazzle, Squentz presents the king with a long list of plays, and finds an excuse for each until they agree on his own.
Context
The text was printed in Breslau in 1658, and the date of its composition remains debated. The preface, signed with a pseudonym, Philip-Gregorio Riesentod, traces its origin back to Daniel Schwenter, a scholar of Altdorf who is said to have been the first to bring it to the stage; a “dearest friend” is said to have then expanded it with new characters and had it performed together with one of his tragedies. The material comes from the mechanicals' interlude in A Midsummer Night's Dream. The amateur actors speak a coarse language, and the comedy arises from their blunders before a court that had been expecting them.
Who it is for
Three short acts, no French translation; better to have in mind the story of Pyramus and Thisbe in Ovid.
Prizes and reception
Counted among the German Baroque comedies that are most widely read and most often performed today.
Sources for this page 3
The pages consulted to check this page.