Woyzeck

Georg Buchner was a German writer who died in 1837 leaving his most famous work, ‘Woyzeck’, incomplete and in a largely fragmentary state.
It is the story of a soldier who is dehumanised by society and kills a widow he has been living with.
He then takes the knife that he committed the murder with to a lake to clean the blood off.
Buchner’s tale ends here but most completed versions have Woyzeck drowning in the lake while attempting to clean the knife.
Despite, or perhaps because of, it’s unfinished nature ‘Woyzeck’ has proved very popular as a piece for adaptation.
Versions have included a production by the Splendid Theatre where the scenes are performed in the order they were found among Buchner’s papers rather than chronologically, a puppet theatre version ‘Woyzeck on the Highveldt’ from the Handspring Puppet Company and a modern version ‘Re: Woyzeck’ by Jeremy Gable which features Georg Buchner as a character in his own play.
‘Woyzeck’ has also proved inspirational to musicians as well.
Nick Cave has provided music for a production in Australia in 2009 and Tom Waits wrote a musical version of the story with Robert Wilson with the songs appearing on the ‘Blood Money’ album that Waits released in 2002.
Arguably the best known adaptation is the Werner Herzog feature film released in 1979 and starring Klaus Kinski in the title role.
Herzog began production just five days after completing work on ‘Nosferatu the Vampyre’ and retained the same crew and lead actor in Kinski, all exhausted by the previous project.
Filming only took 18 days and the film was edited together in another 4 days.
Herzog’s ‘Woyzeck’ was nominated for the Palme d’Or in Cannes in 1979 and Eva Mattes won the award for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of Marie, Woyzeck’s lover and eventual victim.