ABSTRACT
A Swiss theatrical producer and prolific playwright, Cäsar von Arx is associated particularly with festival drama and historical plays. Die Geschichte vom General Suter (1929) and Der Verrat von Novara (1934) were immensely popular, the latter play enjoying over two thousand performances. Cäsar von Arx learned his skill as Dramaturg at Leipzig (1920-3), being renowned as a ‘Feinmechaniker and Kalkulator’. From this period stems his antipathy to Brecht and his methods; his statement ‘Wer das Theater will, muß das Drama wollen’ should be seen as a deliberate criticism of Brecht. Von Arx, in his Moritat (typed as a manuscript in 1928, but probably written two years before) satirizes Brecht’s Baal and also Wedekind; his Der kleine Sündenfall (1938) demonstrates a similar concern. He befriended Georg Kaiser during the latter’s exile in Switzerland during the Second World War, when Kaiser advised him to turn his attention to film scripts and novels. Feeling estranged from modern developments in the theatre, and failing to understand Kaiser’s admiration for Brecht, he committed suicide.
