Georg KaiserRezensionen

The blurb on the back says that the play could be taken as contemporary even 40 years later. Well, another 60 years have passed, and the play, now more than 100 years old, could still be taken as a statement on contemporary society. A wealthy industrialist fleeing from his dismal past cannot get wealthy enough to erase the memory of the pain of poverty. Son and Daughter rebel against the world of the father, and he feels alone and unloved, so he takes a novel approach to getting rid of the memories that haunt him, and replacing them with new ones. The coral of the title is the only way of ascertaining the true identity of the Billionaire, so what would happen if the coral changed hands? Compelling and challenging in the bleak vision, this book is the first part of a trilogy. I look forward to reading the other two.

OK as an exercise in Symbolism, but I wouldn't have the least interest in seeing a staging of it. A bit too heavy-handed for my taste.