About the work
A one-act travesty by Johann Nestroy, premiered on 13 March 1849 at Vienna's Carltheater. It mocks Friedrich Hebbel's tragedy "Judith", first staged in 1840, by compressing its five acts into one.
Plot
The vain general Holofernes besieges the city of Bethulia. Instead of the biblical Judith, her brother Joab goes to the enemy camp himself, disguised as a woman. While Holofernes sleeps, Joab tries to kill him but is initially foiled by a decoy dummy head; the ruse still succeeds, and Holofernes is taken captive.
Cultural significance
The play was controversial from its premiere: several critics read antisemitic undertones into its portrayal of the besieged Bethulians, and performances were halted after nine showings before the piece returned from 1856 and reached 67 performances by 1862. More recent scholarship nonetheless ranks it among Nestroy's most linguistically inventive parodies.