This dataset consists of transcriptions of three different staging books from the work of the director Leopold Jessner at the Hamburg Thalia Theater in the early 20th century. The respective written artefacts are part of the theatre collection (Theatersammlung) of the Carl von Ossietzky State and University Library in Hamburg. They have been digitised as part of the second phase of the research project RFD08 ‘Multilayered Writing in Hamburg Prompt Books and Playbooks since the 18th Century’ (2023–25) within the framework of the DFG Cluster of Excellence 2176 ‘Understanding Written Artefacts’. For further information on the research project and the staging books please refer to our detailed exhibition catalogue as well as the digital exhibition tour on Jessner’s theatre work in Hamburg: uhh.de/csmc-jessner.
We provide transcriptions of the following staging books:
Yvette, director’s book, Thalia Theater, Hamburg State and University Library Carl von Ossietzky, SUB Sondersammlungen A/617490. Interleaved copy of a book edition by Pierre Berton, Yvette. Play in 4 acts; based on Guy de Maupassant’s novella of the same name from 1904, published by Ahn in Berlin. Further metadata and digitised version available at: https://resolver.sub.uni-hamburg.de/kitodo/PPN1830373463.
Filename: 1JessnersHamburgerTheaterarbeit_Yvette_Transkriptionstabelle.pdf
Prinz Adolar und das Tausendschönchen. Weihnachtsmärchen mit Musik, director’s book, Thalia Theater, Hamburg State and University Library Carl von Ossietzky, SUB Sondersammlungen TTH TB Nik 1. Handwritten transcript (with blank backsides for the director’s annotations) of the 1906 play by Amélie Nikisch with Ilse Friedlaender. Further metadata and digitised version at: https://resolver.sub.uni-hamburg.de/kitodo/PPN1852702478.
Filename: 2JessnersHamburgerTheaterarbeit_Tausendschönchen_Transkriptionstabelle.pdf
Danton’s Tod, inspection book, Thalia Theater, Hamburg State and University Library Carl von Ossietzky, SUB Sondersammlungen A/617497. Interleaved copy of a book edition of Georg Büchner’s Danton’s Tod, published in 1903 by O. Hendel-Verlag in Halle a. S. Further metadata and digitised version available at: https://resolver.sub.uni-hamburg.de/kitodo/PPN1807421775.
Filename: 3JessnersHamburgerTheaterarbeit_DantonsTod_Transkriptionstabelle.pdf
Our transcriptions refer to both the pages within the respective written artefacts and the numbering of the PDF pages of the digitised copies. Further digitised copies from the theatre collection can be searched for and accessed at https://digitalisate.sub.uni-hamburg.de/.
Background:
The second phase of the RFD08 project focused on multi-layered staging books from the early 20th century: directors’ books, inspection books, but also prompt books and actors’ scripts. All the examined materials date from Leopold Jessner’s time as director at the Thalia Theater in Hamburg (1904–1915). The two director’s books and the one inspection book are from productions directed by Leopold Jessner. In the 1920s, Jessner became one of the most the influential theatre directors in the Weimar Republic and also one of the precursors of 20th century European ‘director’s theatre’ (Regietheater). Jessner’s estate from this period is largely lost, presumably due to his forced exile after 1933. However, the staging books from his employment at the Thalia Theater from 1904 to 1905 have been preserved and provide an essential source for theatre history.
We selected these three staging books as examples because they originate from different production contexts and manifest different writing processes. A transcription table was created for each of the staging books in order to make them accessible for further research. Due to the different material design and use of the books, the tables are not identical: their structure is an individual response to the respective written artefact. The tables are intended to enable and facilitate work with the staging books. The hasty handwriting of director Leopold Jessner, which also mixes the older ‘Kurrent’ script (German cursive) with the contemporary ‘Sütterlin’, is particularly difficult to read; the transcriptions make it accessible and decipherable.
The first is a director’s book by Leopold Jessner for Pierre Berton’s play Yvette, a dramatisation of the novel of the same name by Guy de Maupassant from 1884 (SUB - Sondersammlungen A/617490). The production premiered at the Thalia Theater in Hamburg on 15 May 1904. We selected this director’s book because of its special position in the corpus: unlike in most of his director’s books, Jessner already had his concept in place before rehearsals began. Most of his other director’s books resemble a notebook. The annotations in them seem to have been scribbled down during the rehearsal process and are characterised by great haste and inaccuracy of the handwriting. The Yvette director’s book, however, is part of Jessner’s ‘job application production’ to be hired as a director at the Thalia Theater. Accordingly, it contains rare and detailed sketches and well-thought-out preliminary considerations of the processes.
The second staging book is the director’s book for the Christmas fairy tale Tausendschönchen, also known as Prinz Adolar und das Tausendschönchen by Amélie Nikisch and Ilse Friedlaender (SUB – Sondersammlungen TTH TB Nik 1). It was first performed at the Thalia Theater in Hamburg on 9 December 1906. The play is one of the few dramas written by women that were performed at the Thalia Theater (and on German-speaking stages in general) at the time. It is also a special case on a material level: in addition to Leopold Jessner’s director’s notes, the primary layer of text was also written by hand. Jessner’s template for his annotations was a handwritten copy that was either provided by the theatre publisher or transcribed at Thalia Theater from another, perhaps printed copy. At the beginning of the 20th century, there was a great deal of material diversity when it came to staging books: in addition to the usual variant of printed and interleaved books from the theatre publisher, there were also typescripts, manuscripts and, even more rarely, carbon copies of manuscripts of the text template. In other theatre archives, a (slightly different) printed version of Nikisch’s and Friedlaender’s dramatic fairy tale can be found. But these seem to be copies from the publisher that were only circulated within theatres and never published commercially.
The third staging book is the inspection book for a production of Georg Büchner’s Dantons Tod (SUB – Sondersammlungen A/617497). The play was first performed on 8 May 1910 at the Thalia Theater in Hamburg. Since the premiere by the Berlin Freie Volksbühne in 1902 took place in closed performances, Jessner probably staged the first public performance of the play. His director’s book has not been preserved. However, the inspection book used for the technical aspects of the production bears witness to Jessner’s abstract lighting design, which foreshadowed his later work in Berlin and managed to do justice to the numerous changes of location, which had led to the play to be considered as ‘unstageable’ in the 19th century. What is also special about this written artefact is its multiple use on different stages and with different ensembles. In 1911, Leopold Jessner also staged the drama at the ‘Volksschauspiele’ (plays for the people) for the Hamburg working class. The event hall was not permanently equipped as a stage. This resulted in several layers of reworkings within the inspection book. Our transcription table helps with deciphering these.
