From Morning to Midnight, National Theatre

The German dramatist Georg Kaiser’s work is as relevant today as it was when it was first performed almost a century ago. Drawing on the ideas of the existential philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, his is a rallying cry to modern man to transcend mediocrity and do something extraordinary.

Kaiser was a leader in the expressionist movement in theatre, which called for the expression of the inner experience rather than the outer reality, and a major influence on German dramatists such as Bertolt Brecht and Ernst Toller.

From Morning to Midnight (1912) is one of Kaiser’s best-known plays, frequently performed during the Republic of Weimar. Now the National Theatre is staging a new adaptation by Dennis Kelly, the British playwright who can’t go wrong at the moment – his latest play, The Ritual Slaughter of Gorge Mastromas, has just premiered at the Royal Court Theatre, and his adaptation of Matilda is one of the most successful shows in the West End.

The play tells the story a petit bourgeois bank clerk’s attempt to escape his humdrum existence. He embezzles 60,000 marks and sets out to explore the ideas of capitalism, in particular, whether money can buy him happiness. Neither commercial sex nor Salvationist religion can deliver and, at the end of one crazy, alienating day, he destroys himself. 

Tony Award nominee Adam Godley, who played Raymond Babitt in the West End production of Rain Man, stars as the protagonist in this production. At the directing helm is British director, designer and choreographer Melly Still, known for work such as the much-loved Coram Boy at the National Theatre.

With its critique of capitalism, greed and selfishness, and sexism, we think From Morning to Midnight could be a topical treat.

Tickets: £12-£48

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