About the work
Arthur Schnitzler's drama „Reigen" was written in 1896-97, privately printed in 1900 in 200 copies and first publicly performed only in 1920 in Berlin and Vienna — twenty-three years after composition. The premiere triggered the largest theatre scandal of the Weimar Republic; the work was banned, charged for indecency, and Schnitzler ultimately decided to forbid further performances during his lifetime. Only after his death did „Reigen" return to the stage.
Plot
Vienna at the turn of the century. Ten dialogues, each between two figures, form a chain — every figure of one scene appears again in the next. The chain begins and ends with the prostitute and links across all classes: Whore — Soldier; Soldier — Maid; Maid — Young Gentleman; Young Gentleman — Young Wife; Young Wife — Husband; Husband — Sweet Young Thing; Sweet Young Thing — Poet; Poet — Actress; Actress — Count; Count — Whore. Each scene leads to a sexual encounter — represented in the dialogue by dashes — and shows the embarrassment, lies, hypocrisy, vanity and disenchantment around it. Schnitzler exposes the bourgeois hypocrisy of fin-de-siècle Vienna unsparingly. The cycle structure shows: sexuality crosses all classes; honesty is rare in love; the encounter is mostly more than the lovemaking would seem to be — namely a class duel.
Cultural significance
Reigen is Schnitzler's most performed and most contested work. The 1920 Berlin trial („Reigen-Prozess") for indecency ended in acquittal — but Schnitzler banned further performances himself out of disgust at the antisemitic press attacks. Max Ophüls's film „La Ronde" (1950) brought the cycle structure to world cinema. Productions by Andrea Breth, Frank Castorf and David Hare („The Blue Room" 1998 with Nicole Kidman in all five female roles) keep the work in the modern repertoire. The play is a key text of fin-de-siècle Vienna alongside Schnitzler's „La Ronde".