Castle Wetterstein by Frank Wedekind

Translated by Ian Johnston

This play forms part of a tetralogy which focuses on one of Wedekind's obsessive themes: the destructive interplay between primal sexual urges and social convention. Each play revolves around a powerful young female character, who has the power to control and captivate men, but who in turn is destroyed by the exercise of that power. In Castle Wetterstein, that role is represented by Effie, the young daughter of a bourgeois widow, who is being courted by the man who killed her late husband in a duel. Later in the play Effie becomes, like Wedekind’s most celebrated heroine, Lulu, a sacrificial victim on the altar of profane love.

Cast:

• Rüdiger, Baron Wetterstein - Russell Gold
• Leonore von Gystrow - P J Morgan
• Effie and the Housemaid - Amanda Friday
• Meinrad Luckner and Chagnaral Tschamper of Atakama - Noel Badrian
• Van Zeeter (hotel manager) and Professor Dr. Scharlach - John Burlinson
• Duvoisin (police inspector) and Karl Salzmann - Ron Altman
• Matthais Taubert - David Stifel
• Waiter and Schigabet - Alan Weyman
• Heiri Wipf and Waldemar
• Uhlhorst - Andy Harrington
• Narrator - Denis Daly

Audio edited by Denis Daly