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The Natural Daughter
written by J. W.
von Goete
translated by Edward Seymour
Limpertsberg Community Hall
12th to 15th November 2008
The Natural
Daughter was written in 1803 as the third in a sequence of verse plays by
Johann Goethe on the theme of exile, the individual and society. Edward
Seymour has retranslated the verse into 21st century English.
'Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness' – the words that ushered in
the age of revolution –unleashed a tsunami of violence and turmoil, first
in America and then in France, whose effects were felt throughout the
world. This conflict between noble ideals and the suffering that
they can cause is at the heart of J. W. Goethe's third classical play, The
Natural Daughter.
As part of its 40th Anniversary celebrations, and under the patronage of
the British Ambassador to Luxembourg, the New World Theatre Club presented
an English-language adaptation of the play on 12 – 15 November in
Limpertsberg. This production was based on a new translation by Edward
Seymour of Die natürliche Tochter, first performed in Weimar in 1803.
Inspired by the memoirs of Stéphanie de Bourbon-Conti, a charismatic
figure who toured Germany after the French Revolution and claimed to be
the illegitimate daughter of the French king's brother, the play uses her
story to examine the impact of extraordinary events on ordinary people's
lives.
The Natural Daughter draws on both French and English dramatic traditions.
It focuses on the father-daughter relationship and sounds echoes from
Goethe 's earlier play Iphigenia but also from The Tempest and The
Winter's Tale by William Shakespeare, whose works Goethe greatly admired.
In this imaginative production directed by John Brigg, a veteran of many
productions in Luxembourg over the years, an international cast brings to
life a wide range of well-rounded characters.
Performances: Wednesday 12 November – Saturday 15 November @ 8 pm, at the
Limpertsberg theatre space, 85 Avenue Pasteur, Luxembourg.
Pictures
See
also Iphigenia in Tauris.
NWTC
24/11/2008 |