About the work
Höllenangst (Fear of Hell) is a three-act farce with songs by Johann Nestroy, based on motifs from the French play Dominique ou le Possédé by d'Epagny and Dupin (1831). Nestroy wrote it in 1849, right after the failed revolution; it premiered on 17 November 1849 at the Carltheater, with Nestroy himself in the lead role of Wendelin.
Plot
Poor shoemaker's son Wendelin mistakes a judge fleeing the police for the devil in human form and strikes what he thinks is a bargain with him. A swap of clothes and vague promises of money plunge Wendelin into ever more absurd situations that reflect his fatalistic, superstition-ridden fear of death.
Cultural significance
The play flopped at its premiere and closed after only five performances; it only found success after Karl Paryla's 1948 adaptation. Today Höllenangst is regarded as one of Nestroy's bleakest and most socially critical farces, its comic situations masking a dark view of the failed revolution.