Classic of German Theatre translated into Welsh

A masterpiece of German theatre has been published in a new Welsh edition.

At turns disturbing, tragic and moving, Georg Büchner’s Woyzeck is widely considered a masterpiece of European theatre, all the more remarkably so given that it remained unfinished after the death of the author aged just 23.

The play as it exists today is a reconstruction of scenes, some of which exist in mutliple versions, and whose original intended order is uncertain. Perhaps due to this very ambiguity it has been the subject of hundreds of productions and adaptations, including the opera Wozzeck by Alban Berg.

The play follows the tragic life of the eponymous Franz Woyzeck, a poor soldier struggling with poverty, exploitation, and mental instability.

To supplement his meagre income, he allows himself to be the subject of often bizarre medical experiments (such as eating nothing but peas) by a deranged doctor who treats him as less than human, as does his captain, both experiences worsening his physical and psychological condition.

Woyzeck’s mental deterioration intensifies as he becomes obsessed with the infidelity of his partner Marie, with whom he has a child. Driven by jealousy, despair, and a fractured sense of reality, he ultimately murders her. The play ends ambiguously, with Woyzeck’s fate uncertain.

Büchner’s unfinished, fragmented structure adds to the chaotic and disjointed atmosphere.

Welsh edition

The Welsh edition was translated by Sarah Pogoda, a lecturer in German at Bangor University, and Huw Jones. This team previously translated a Welsh learners’ version of Franz Kafka’s Metamorphosis, but this new Welsh version of Woyzeck is for general Welsh audiences. 

Translator Huw Jones explains: “The idea for the translation came from Sarah, who started learning Welsh on her third day here. She and many of her colleagues are so enthusiastic to contribute to Wales; it’s a real scandal that language departments are being closed in so many universities.

“Woyzeck has inspired so many different adaptations. And we soon found that we really had our work cut out puzzling over our own interpretation. Therefore, we were very lucky to have the expert eye and red biro of author Lloyd Jones (a Wales Book of the Year winner). Lloyd really pulled our draft translations together.

“The play has probably one of the earliest portrayals of the classic ‘mad professor’, who has since become such a Hollywood stock character. In the play, Woyzeck is made to eat a diet of only peas as a guinea pig in the unhinged doctor’s dubious experiments!

“But Woyzeck is far more than just a tale of betrayal and murder most foul. Like many classic works, the underlying themes — social class, gender roles, mental health, and human nature vs. the natural world — are as relevant today as when they were written.”

Relevance

His co-translator Sarah Pogoda added: “After alsmost 200 years, Woyzeck is still relevant for our lives today, I’d rather see us living in a world in which texts like Woyzeck would not speak to us anymore.”

The new Welsh edition is published by Melin Bapur books as part of their Clasuron Byd (World Classics) series, which aims to make important literary works from all over the world available in Welsh.

“We’re really excited to be able to bring this Welsh version of Woyzeck to readers, and perhaps some day a Welsh stage,” explains Melin Bapur editor, Adam Pearce.

“This is exactly the kind of work we wanted to make availabel in Welsh via our Clasuron Byd series. Interestingly, this isn’t the first Welsh version of Woyzeck – as I understand it a translation was made in the 1980s, but this is the first time the work has been published and made available to the reading public as a book.”

Woyzeck can be purchased from the Melin Bapur website, www.melinbapur.cymru for £7.99+P&P, as an eBook from a variety of eBook platforms, o from a range of bookshops across Wales and beyond.