About the work
Farce with song in two parts by Johann Nestroy, premiered on 1 July 1848 as a benefit performance for the author at the Carltheater in Vienna. The two-part piece – "Die Revolution" in two acts and "Die Reaktion" in one act – was written in the midst of Vienna's 1848 revolutionary events.
Plot
In the small town of Krähwinkel, the newspaper editor Ultra, played by Nestroy himself, exposes the mayor's reactionary schemes under a series of disguises – as a freedom orator, a Russian envoy and a fugitive dignitary. His opponent, the adaptable town clerk Klaus, aligns himself with whichever power happens to be in charge, until the second part shows how quickly the revolutionary momentum fades again.
Cultural significance
Critical reaction was divided: while "Der Wanderer" praised the play as witty, the satirist Moritz Gottlieb Saphir condemned it as mockery of the ideals of 1848. After barely three months on stage, the run ended on 4 October 1848, two days before the crushing of the Vienna October uprising began – not through censorship, but because the political situation made continuing impossible.