'[This translation by Edward Bond is] scrupulously faithful both to Wedekind's irony and his poetry'
THE TIMES
Written in 1891, Frank Wedekind's explosive play lays bare the brutal clash between adolescence and authority. Set in a stifling provincial German town, it exposes a world ruled by fear, hypocrisy and moral absolutism, where young people are denied knowledge, agency and compassion.
As repressive adults impose silence and shame, teenage curiosity and sexual longing erupt into confusion, rebellion, and tragedy. Shocking, darkly ironic and radically ahead of its time, Wedekind's play confronts the catastrophic consequences of denying youth honest education and emotional freedom.
A seminal work of modern drama, it remains a searing indictment of moral repression-and a fearless exploration of growing up under tyranny.
This Student Edition in the translation by Edward Bond contains a commentary and notes by Joseph Prestwich.

Frank Wedekind (1864-1918) had a seminal effect on the development of twentieth-centruy German drama. His plays portray a society riven by the demands of lust and greed, and his powerful writing continues to disturb and shock. His plays were still being refused a performing licence in Britain in the 1960s. His major works include the Lulu plays and Spring Awakening.

Edward Bond (1934 - 2024) was an English playwright, director and screenwriter. He wrote over 50 plays, including Saved (1965), Lear (1971), The Sea (1973) and Restoration (1981). He is regarded as one of the great post-second world war dramatists.

Joseph Prestwich is an academic, improviser, applied theatre practitioner and actor. His PhD focused on the staging of "Germanness" in contemporary British and German theatre in the UK. He has taught at King's College London and at the University of Cambridge, and is currently a ERC Postdoctoral Fellow at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. He is Assistant Director of ShakeItUp Theatre, which focuses on improvised Shakespeare, and he works regularly in Germany with Theater Frankfurt.