The Lulu Plays by Frank Wedekind
The Lulu Plays
Steve Gooch’s crafty adaptation keeps a firm grip on the play’s snake-like changes of style and mood. A demanding but revelatory evening.
Lyn Gardner, City Limits
An adaptation into one evening of Frank Wedekind’s two Lulu Plays, best-known to English audiences through Louise Brooks’ star performance in GW Pabst’s film Pandora’s Box. Lulu begins as a plaything to a married man’s hypocrisy but then charms and teases her own way through a succession of untrustworthy men, ending with the most untrustworthy of them all. Published by Oberon Books.
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Script Excerpt
Schoen: I want you to stop calling on me.
Lulu: Can I offer you–
Schoen: Thank-you, no Elixir. D’you understand me?
(Lulu shakes her head.)
Schoen: Very well, you have the choice. Either you behave as befits your position–
Lulu: Or?
Schoen: Or I shall be forced to turn to the person responsible for the way you behave.
Lulu: How d’you see yourself managing that!
Schoen: I shall ask your husband to supervise your movements himself.
(Lulu gets up and goes to the stairs.)
Schoen: Where are you going?
Lulu: Walter!
Schoen: (Jumps up) Are you mad?
Lulu: (Turning back) Aha!
(Comes down the stairs and puts Schoen’s arm round her neck.)
Lulu: Why are you so afraid when you’re so close to fulfilling your heart’s desire?
Schoen: Don’t fool about. I’m engaged – at last. My only desire is to admit my wife to a respectable home.
Lulu: (Sitting) We can meet wherever you think fit.
Schoen: We will meet nowhere except in the presence of your husband.
Lulu: You don’t even believe that yourself.