The Machine Wreckers by Ernst Toller

The Machine Wreckers by Ernst Toller

A classic of German expressionism by an active revolutionary who was also an accomplished poet and playwright.

Set largely in Nottingham in the early years of the 19th century, Ernst Toller's play The Machine Wreckers depicts the suffering amongst the local weavers caused by the introduction of mechanised looms - the 'machines' of the title.

First staged in 1922 in Berlin, this English version of Toller's play by Ashley Dukes was staged at the National Theatre, London, in 1995 in a production directed by Katie Mitchell.

'The play still shocks and grips'

Ernst Toller (1893-1939) was well known in the Weimar Republic for his expressionistic theater performances. After being forced into exile by the Nationalsozialists, he wrote his autobiographical work Eine Jugend in Germany, which depicts his life from his birth in Posen as a child of Jewish parents through the First World War, his participation in the Munich Revolution, and his imprisonment until his release in 1924.