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From Morning to Midnight
From Morning to Midnight charts the life of a cashier who steals money from the bank and flees to Berlin. The unnamed protagonist's bid to escape his middle-class daily life is ultimately frustrated, as Kaiser satirizes the cheapness and futility of modern society. The hero, a kind of machine-age Everyman, discovers that the world is deceitful and illusory.
88 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1912
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About the author
Georg Kaiser
89 books7 followersFriedrich Carl Georg Kaiser, called Georg Kaiser, (November 25, 1878 – June 4, 1945) was a German dramatist.
He was highly prolific and wrote in a number of different styles. An Expressionist dramatist, he was, along with Gerhart Hauptmann, the most frequently performed playwright in the Weimar Republic. Georg Kaiser's plays include The Burghers of Calais (1913), From Morn to Midnight (1912), and a trilogy, comprising The Coral (1917), Gas (1918), Gas II (1920).
He died at Ascona, Switzerland.
The Burghers of Calais (Die Bürger von Calais), written in 1913, was not performed until 1917. It was Kaiser's first success. The play is very dense linguistically, with its dialogue comprising numerous emotive monologues influenced by the Telegramstil poetics of August Stramm. Like Kaiser's other works of the period, it bears the mark of Friedrich Nietzsche's philosophy, calling upon the modern individual to transcend mediocrity through extraordinary actions; the Expressionist 'New Man' became a commonplace of the genre.
From Morning to Midnight, filmed by Karlheinz Martin in 1920, was written in 1912 and first performed in 1917. One of the most frequently performed works of German Expressionist theatre, its plot concerns a Cashier (played by Ernst Deutsch in Martin's film) in a small bank in W. (ostensibly Weimar) who is alerted to the power of money by the visit of a rich Italian lady. He embezzles 60,000 Marks and absconds to B. (Berlin) where he attempts to find transcendent experiences in sport, romance and religion, only to be ultimately frustrated.
Kaiser's classic Expressionist plays, written just before and during World War I, often called for man to make a decisive break with the past, rejuvenating contemporary society. He eschewed characterization, and particularly character psychology, instead making his protagonists and other characters archetypes, employing highly anti-naturalistic dialogue often comprising lengthy individual speeches.
Kaiser's drama Side by Side (Nebeneinander, 1923), a 'people's play' (Volksstück), premiered in Berlin on the 3rd November, 1923, directed by Berthold Viertel with design by George Grosz. With this play Kaiser moved away from the Expressionism of his previous works. Utilizing a more rounded characterization and more realistic curt, comic dialogue to tell a light-hearted story of an idealistic pawnbroker caught up in the hyperinflation afflicting Germany at the time (the currency stabilization came a fortnight after the play opened), the play inaugurated the 'new sobriety' (Neue Sachlichkeit) in the drama. "Kaiser has left the cloud that used to surround him," a review in the Weltbühne suggested, "and landed with both feet on the earth."
Kaiser's plays, particularly From Morning to Midnight, were highly influential on the German dramatists operating during the 1920s, including Iwan Goll, Ernst Toller and Bertolt Brecht, who drew on Kaiser's use of revue-type scenes and parable, which was influenced by medieval and 16th-century German mystery plays.
Kaiser collaborated with the composer Kurt Weill on his one-act operas Der Protagonist (1926) and Der Zar lässt sich photographieren (1928), also Der Silbersee (1933).
In his later years, he developed his criticism of the modern machine age that had characterised the Gas trilogy further. Imprisoned briefly in 1923 for stealing a loaf of bread during the hyper-inflationary crisis, Kaiser fled to Switzerland when the Nazis came to power in the 1930s (Kaiser went into exile in 1938), and turned to writing verse dramas on mythological themes, including Pygmalion, Amphitryon, and Bellerophon, and a pacifist drama, The Soldier Tanaka (1940). The Raft of the Medusa (1945) is a play written in verse that reverses the ethos of The Burghers of Calais in a more pessimistic direction; to avoid bad luck, thirteen children on a life-raft drown the youngest of them.
He was highly prolific and wrote in a number of different styles. An Expressionist dramatist, he was, along with Gerhart Hauptmann, the most frequently performed playwright in the Weimar Republic. Georg Kaiser's plays include The Burghers of Calais (1913), From Morn to Midnight (1912), and a trilogy, comprising The Coral (1917), Gas (1918), Gas II (1920).
He died at Ascona, Switzerland.
The Burghers of Calais (Die Bürger von Calais), written in 1913, was not performed until 1917. It was Kaiser's first success. The play is very dense linguistically, with its dialogue comprising numerous emotive monologues influenced by the Telegramstil poetics of August Stramm. Like Kaiser's other works of the period, it bears the mark of Friedrich Nietzsche's philosophy, calling upon the modern individual to transcend mediocrity through extraordinary actions; the Expressionist 'New Man' became a commonplace of the genre.
From Morning to Midnight, filmed by Karlheinz Martin in 1920, was written in 1912 and first performed in 1917. One of the most frequently performed works of German Expressionist theatre, its plot concerns a Cashier (played by Ernst Deutsch in Martin's film) in a small bank in W. (ostensibly Weimar) who is alerted to the power of money by the visit of a rich Italian lady. He embezzles 60,000 Marks and absconds to B. (Berlin) where he attempts to find transcendent experiences in sport, romance and religion, only to be ultimately frustrated.
Kaiser's classic Expressionist plays, written just before and during World War I, often called for man to make a decisive break with the past, rejuvenating contemporary society. He eschewed characterization, and particularly character psychology, instead making his protagonists and other characters archetypes, employing highly anti-naturalistic dialogue often comprising lengthy individual speeches.
Kaiser's drama Side by Side (Nebeneinander, 1923), a 'people's play' (Volksstück), premiered in Berlin on the 3rd November, 1923, directed by Berthold Viertel with design by George Grosz. With this play Kaiser moved away from the Expressionism of his previous works. Utilizing a more rounded characterization and more realistic curt, comic dialogue to tell a light-hearted story of an idealistic pawnbroker caught up in the hyperinflation afflicting Germany at the time (the currency stabilization came a fortnight after the play opened), the play inaugurated the 'new sobriety' (Neue Sachlichkeit) in the drama. "Kaiser has left the cloud that used to surround him," a review in the Weltbühne suggested, "and landed with both feet on the earth."
Kaiser's plays, particularly From Morning to Midnight, were highly influential on the German dramatists operating during the 1920s, including Iwan Goll, Ernst Toller and Bertolt Brecht, who drew on Kaiser's use of revue-type scenes and parable, which was influenced by medieval and 16th-century German mystery plays.
Kaiser collaborated with the composer Kurt Weill on his one-act operas Der Protagonist (1926) and Der Zar lässt sich photographieren (1928), also Der Silbersee (1933).
In his later years, he developed his criticism of the modern machine age that had characterised the Gas trilogy further. Imprisoned briefly in 1923 for stealing a loaf of bread during the hyper-inflationary crisis, Kaiser fled to Switzerland when the Nazis came to power in the 1930s (Kaiser went into exile in 1938), and turned to writing verse dramas on mythological themes, including Pygmalion, Amphitryon, and Bellerophon, and a pacifist drama, The Soldier Tanaka (1940). The Raft of the Medusa (1945) is a play written in verse that reverses the ethos of The Burghers of Calais in a more pessimistic direction; to avoid bad luck, thirteen children on a life-raft drown the youngest of them.
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
December 26, 2013
Ein expressionistisches Drama, sehr gerne gelesen, Visuelles als starke Eindrücke, fast schon episch (nicht im Brecht'schen Sinn).
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May 23, 2022Quick.
January 22, 2025
just another boring man who thinks he’s camus after discovering him twenty years too late.
February 14, 2017
گئورک کایزر نمایش نامه نویس اکسپرسیونیست و پایه گذار یک" مکتب نمایشی نو" نامیده شده است. اکسپرسیونیست ها بر این باور بودند که حقیقت واقعی در درون انسان؛ یعنی در ذهن، روح و بینش او یافت می شود، پس واقعیت بیرونی را باید بازآفرینی کرد و به آن شکلی دیگر داد تا با حقیقت درونی به گونه ای هماهنگ شود که روح انسان معنای آن واقعیت را درک کند. انسان همواره مرکز توجه اکسپرسیونیست ها بوده است. از جمله ویژگی ها نمایش نامه های اکسپرسیونیستی؛ یکی اینکه بخش بخش نوشته می شوند( اپیزودیک) و دیگر این که شخصیت ها نام خاصی ندارند بلکه نام شان عام و یا مربوط به حرفه شان است. مانند مادر، همسر، آقا، بانکدار و غیره.
نمایش نامه از بامداد تا نیمه شب زندگی صندوقدار یک بانک محلی است که زندگی ماشینی و یکنواختی را می گذارند. و با ورود بانویی ازکشور و دنیای دیگر مسیر زندگی او عوض می شود. در واقع از بامداد تا نیمه شب یک روز از زندگی صندوق دار و گذارندن هفت وادی در پی پیدا کردن عامل هویت بخشی اوست.
نمایش نامه از بامداد تا نیمه شب زندگی صندوقدار یک بانک محلی است که زندگی ماشینی و یکنواختی را می گذارند. و با ورود بانویی ازکشور و دنیای دیگر مسیر زندگی او عوض می شود. در واقع از بامداد تا نیمه شب یک روز از زندگی صندوق دار و گذارندن هفت وادی در پی پیدا کردن عامل هویت بخشی اوست.
October 8, 2015
I think I missed the entire point of this play. I've heard great things about it but it seemed very banal to me and it didn't seem to be going anywhere from start to finish.
November 11, 2015
War ein bisschen seltsam, aber in Ordnung.
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December 19, 2020read this for university
August 18, 2017
1.5 stars
August 6, 2024
Georg Kaiser kaut einem jedes Fünkchen an eigener Fantasie vor, bis du dich nicht mehr im Text wiederfinden kannst. Danke, aber ich muss nicht beschrieben bekommen, wann wer wem die Hand gibt oder wie oft klopft oder guckt oder geht oder steht oder atmet. Ich kann mir auch ein paar eigene Gedanken machen. Oder könnte ich zumindest, würde mir Georg Kaiser nicht alles vorwegnehmen.
Ich weiß nicht, ob der letzte Satz, die Regieanweisung am Ende des Stückes, mein absoluter Lieblingssatz ist und genial, noch nie gelesen, oder sowas von überheblich kitschig.
"Sein Ächzen hüstelt wie eine Ecce - sein Hauchen surrt wie ein Homo."
Abgesehen davon, gings darum, dass jemand unglücklich war, dem ersten Reiz nachgegangen ist, Freiheit zu erfahren und dann nach einer dummen Entscheidung die nächste getroffen hat und das innerhalb eines Tages.
Ich weiß nicht, ob der letzte Satz, die Regieanweisung am Ende des Stückes, mein absoluter Lieblingssatz ist und genial, noch nie gelesen, oder sowas von überheblich kitschig.
"Sein Ächzen hüstelt wie eine Ecce - sein Hauchen surrt wie ein Homo."
Abgesehen davon, gings darum, dass jemand unglücklich war, dem ersten Reiz nachgegangen ist, Freiheit zu erfahren und dann nach einer dummen Entscheidung die nächste getroffen hat und das innerhalb eines Tages.
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January 31, 2023Fuck money etc etc
May 31, 2023
Kinda boring, but a man does cause his mother to die from not eating his pork chops (which clearly represents his renunciation of bourgeois life.)
January 31, 2024
kurios
June 9, 2024
An excellent translation of this classic, Expressionist drama.
May 4, 2017
This play reflected on the fact that money cannot buy happiness or love. It is quite misogynistic throughout. It begins with an overly sexualized woman and continues to another being ordered about. For an expressionist play, I felt like one of the scenes completely didn't fit into this category. A lot of characters weren't explored in depth, and I like a nice amount of character development. If you're looking for that, this isn't a play for you. The ending was somewhat predictable and didn't seem very effective.
February 10, 2020
"Il danaro svilisce il valore. Il danaro nasconde tutto ciò che è autentico... il danaro è, di tutti gli inganni, l'inganno più squallido!"
April 25, 2021
داستان صندوقدار ساده ای که در یک سوبرداشت در مسیر جدیدی قرار میگیرد. این مسیر که در هفت پرده از صبح تا شب تنظیم شده است، به صورت نمادین نقدی اخلاقی به رویدادهای زمان و جامعه میکند. این نمایشنامه اثری مهم در ادبیات نمایشی به عنوان مثالی از اکسپرسیونیم آلمانی است. با پایانی اخلاقی که به رستگاری نوع بشر، با توبه از گناهان خود باور دارد. حال آنکه به معیارهای اخلاقی امروز نه آن جهان سیاه تصویر شده آنچنان تاریک و سرد بود و نه راه حل دراماتیک کارساز شد. بیان نمادین اثر در تصویر طبقات، اخلاق و جنسیت حالا دیگر نه تنها درست به نظر نمیرسد که شاید از منظر نژادپرستی، جنسیتزدگی و اقتصادی اشتباه است.
October 20, 2020
**uni read - lit in context**
this isn’t a play that I would usually choose to read myself, partially due to the content, as well as the form. I found it really quite hard to follow the ‘plot’ of this play, and didn’t enjoy that for each scene it bounced between different people and places.
this isn’t a play that I would usually choose to read myself, partially due to the content, as well as the form. I found it really quite hard to follow the ‘plot’ of this play, and didn’t enjoy that for each scene it bounced between different people and places.
October 25, 2010
Fun in a WTF just happened? sort of way.
January 28, 2016
wow okay so it's soooo misogynistic and goes from 0-100 in like 0.6 seconds
September 19, 2017
Film uyarlamasi da var, acikcasi esas adami okumak izlemekten daha zevkliydi. http://www.kitaptanfilme.com/2017/09/...
December 10, 2023
geral achou paia..
February 16, 2013
This English translation was not bad. An excellent play.
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews