Sweet Nothings

by David Harrower, Arthur Schnitzler

Overview

A young man has an affair with a married woman. He is terrified her husband will challenge him to a duel and kill him. Meanwhile he toys with the affections of another and, for a moment, life seems full of joy.

The doorbell rings. The husband enters the room.

Based on Schnitzler's play Liebelei, David Harrower's Sweet Nothings captures the power of sexual longing, the cruelty of tradition and the vulnerability of those in love. The play premieres at the Young Vic, London, in March 2010.

'I write of love and death. What other subjects are there?'
Arthur Schnitzler.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780571268931
Publisher:	Faber and Faber
Publication date:	03/04/2010
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	96
File size:	478 KB
Age Range:	12 - 18 Years

About the Author

David Harrower's plays include Knives in Hens, Kill the Old, Torture Their Young and Dark Earth (Traverse), Presence (Royal Court) The Chrysalids (NT Connections), Blackbird (Edinburgh International Festival; West End), A Slow Air (Tron Theatre, Glasgow) and Good with People (Traverse). Adaptations include B chner's Woyzeck (Edinburgh Lyceum), Pirandello's Six Characters in Search of an Author (Young Vic), Chekhov's Ivanov and Horv th's Tales from the Vienna Woods (National Theatre), Schiller's Mary Stuart (National Theatre of Scotland), and Brecht's The Good Soul of Szechuan and Gogol's The Government Inspector (Young Vic).
Arthur Schnitzler (1862-1931). Austrian playwright and short-story writer. Following in his father's footsteps, he studied medicine at the University of Vienna and received his doctorate in 1885. Throughout the following years medicine and writing competed for his time, with writing ultimately taking precedence. He wrote 32 plays. The most celebrated are Reigen (La Ronde), Liebelei (Sweet Nothings) - both filmed by Max Ophu ls - Das weite Land (Undiscovered Country), Professor Benhardi and Anatol. His many short novels and stories include Traumnovelle (Dream Story, adapted as Eyes Wide Shut by Stanley Kubrick and Frederic Raphael) and Spiel im Morgengrauen (Night Games).