50. “Unjamwewe”
Comedy in four acts by Ernst von Wolzogen
Performance at the Lessing Theater, Berlin
Every time Ernst von Wolzogen appears in public with a new dramatic performance, I have the feeling that this artist has become a good deal more mature, more accomplished. It is often said that Wolzogen will provide us with the genuine German comedy that we all long for. For his noble talent, his fine sensibility and knowledge of social life and the people within it, enable him to do so. In addition, he knows the needs of the stage like few others and does not seem at all inclined to forget the requirements of the theater for the sake of any aesthetic tendencies of the time. Wolzogen's comedies are depictions of life in the best sense of the word, but his naturalism goes no further than the conditions of the stage, which is not the real world after all.
The comedy, which has just been performed for the first time at the Lessing Theater, seems to me to be the work of a witty artist who manages to amuse and show deeper emotional conflicts at the same time. The characterization of the characters shows the thorough connoisseur of human nature, the psychologist in the good sense of the word. Nowhere is there even a trace of the mistake into which the comic playwright so easily falls: the drawing of distorted images. We are dealing with quite possible characters. Anyone who lets the German and foreign comedy literature pass before his mind will admit that it is precisely this drawing of genuine comedy characters that deserves the highest praise.
In the middle of the plot is the African traveler Dr. Franz Ewert. He has conquered Unjamwewe and returned to Europe to interest people in exploiting the territory he has won. The social circles he addresses are described by the poet in the best possible way. The effect of the catchword, the influence of the purse, the arrogance of certain classes are portrayed in a way that can only be described as masterly. Above all, however, the personality of Dr. Ewert himself is worked out in a way that reveals that Wolzogen also understands people who are to be regarded as exceptional natures. The light mind, which pursues its task in a straight line and regards things and circumstances that are sacred to other people as an end in themselves, only as a means to its ends, comes to the fore, as does the deeper nature that must be characteristic of such exceptional people if they are not to offend - at least in comedy. Dr. Ewert is an adventurer, but he is serious about his cause. His adventurous nature is just great enough to make him forget dangers and considerations, but it is not great enough to tempt him to pursue ventures as mere sport. This adventurer is not a heavy, but a tenacious, not a very deep, but a purposeful nature, which attaches great importance to what it does. He is light-hearted enough to coolly reject the wife of his rich benefactor, who throws herself at him because she loves the man of strength; but he is not frivolous enough to refuse the poor actress, who loves him dearly and has become the mother of his child, her heart's desire to make her his wife. He despises the wretched fellows who form a cooperative to exploit his African conquests, but he uses them to carry out his plans. He establishes a cozy home with his beloved Kathi, the mother of his child, but he rejoices when the news comes that the empire has accepted his enterprise and he can go back to the Kaffirs. The peculiarity of such a powerful nature, which inspires us with respect at every moment, both through its healthy sense of purpose and the ruthlessness of its actions, has perhaps never been portrayed as perfectly as in this comedy. Wolzogen has shown himself equal to the task of creating the psychology of the serious adventurer, the higher gypsy. This higher gypsy is the gypsy of action. It is to him that we owe the achievements of culture, which require strength and intelligence, but no moral scruples. Many have tried to bring him to the stage. None has succeeded to such a high degree as Ernst von Wolzogen. I believe the reason lies in the fact that Wolzogen is an artist whose rarely fine powers of observation are translated into characters in a playful way. Wolzogen sees a lot and can do a lot. That is easy to say, but there are few of whom it can be said.
"Unjamwewe" captivates not through situation comedy, not through farcical jokes, but through the witty development of real conflicts and the portrayal of real people. I was not bored for a moment, and I am convinced that amusement is never bought at the price of art. That is why I call Ernst von Wolzogen a distinguished artist. I do not believe that we now have the longed-for "German comedy"; but I am sure of this: Wolzogen's latest creation has brought us a good deal closer to it. We will soon be so far along that we won't have to keep coming up with "journalists" in German comedies either, if we want to call them something of some value.