KASIMIR UND KAROLINE

byÖdön von Horvâth.

Premiered 1932. Horvâth's extravagant but brutal satire on the petit bourgeoisie in Munich has 110 scenes, takes place at an amusement park, and requires a large Mercedes convertible onstage to be driven off and then wrecked, a Ferris wheel, and a huge cast of nonspeaking extras. Kasimir has just lost his job as a chauffeur, so to cheer him up his girlfriend Karoline suggests they go to the Oktoberfest grounds in Munich for a few beers to help him forget his troubles. Accompanying them are his friend Merkl Franz, a lowlife hoodlum just out of jail, and his girlfriend Erna. Kasimir shows off his strength at the "Hit the Lukas" game; he hits the plate with a sledgehammer and rings the bell.Merkl Franz constantly threatens to knock out Erna's teeth, to which she replies, "You'd have every right." Kasimir and Karoline decide to break up, but they run into each other in the amusement park throughout the play. He alternately begs her to forgive him, calls her a slut, or bitterly bemoans his unemployment. Merkl Franz becomes aggressively drunk. "Women are like shit!" he screams at Erna, to which she replies, "Don't be so crude. What'd I ever do to you?" "You're a woman. That's enough!" Two wealthy businessmen in their 60s make suggestive comments to Karoline and Erna, and one of them supplies Karoline with beer until she agrees to go to bed with him if he pays her enough money. Suddenly the play is interrupted by the overflight of a large zeppelin, and fights break out on the park grounds. Karoline agrees to leave with the man and gets into his Mercedes; they drive off but the car is wrecked offstage because the man passed out. The other older man reappears, having been beaten up by a gang of teenagers. The Munich police take away Merkl Franz for having instigated the fights. Karoline at last accepts Kasimir's offer to go home with him, agreeing that "as long as we don't hang ourselves, we'll be all right." They exit singing "The Last Rose of Summer."