Frank Wedekind

Frank Wedekind was a German playwright, actor and singer who was one of the most influential and controversial dramatists of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Born in 1864, he is best known for Spring Awakening, a groundbreaking play about adolescent sexuality, repression and the devastating consequences of adult hypocrisy, first published in 1891. The play was considered scandalous in its time and was banned or censored in many countries, but it has since been recognised as a masterpiece of modern drama and was adapted into a Tony Award-winning musical in 2006. This collection presents Spring Awakening alongside other works, showcasing the range and daring of Wedekind's dramatic output. His plays challenged bourgeois morality with unflinching honesty and dark humour, paving the way for expressionism and the theatre of the absurd. His audiobooks and books preserve the work of a playwright who was decades ahead of his time. He died in 1918.