Von Morgens bis Mitternachts

(From Morn to Midnight) by Georg Kaiser.

   Premiered 1917. In what has perhaps become the most well known of all German Expressionist plays, a bank cashier (identified simply as "the Cashier") attempts to realize the hopes, dreams, and fantasies denied him his entire life in the span between the morning hours and the minutes shortly before midnight. At his bank, a wealthy Italian woman makes a large deposit, and he is filled with lust for her. He steals the money, appears at her hotel, and propositions her with wholly inappropriate suggestions that they leave together. She angrily rebuffs him, and he makes his way through the snow to have lunch with his family as usual; on the way, he has a vision of death in the form of a forlorn tree. At home, he reveals his intentions to live life to the fullest, and his mother suffers a stroke. He attempts to find adventure at a bicycle racing arena and later visits a brothel. There he orders champagne and indulges himself in other pleasures; he is appalled to confront a prostitute with a wooden leg, accusing her of ruining his pleasure. He concludes his day by attending Salvation Army services, where he hears confessions to crimes like his own. He confesses his malfeasances and flings what remains of the stolen money to the crowd—and to his chagrin they greedily scramble for it. Attracted to the Salvation Army girl who offers him respite and compassion, he discovers that she has called the police to collect the reward offered for his capture. He climbs a chandelier in the vain hope of escape, but when escape appears impossible, he shoots himself. His body slumps against the curtain, on which a cross is sewn. His arms outstretched in Christ-like fashion against the cross, he mumbles something that Kaiser says should sound something like Ecce homo, "behold the man," from the Gospel account of Christ's crucifixion. "There must have been a short circuit," concludes a policeman.