Gert Westphaler or The Loquacious Barber (Danish: Mester Gert Westphaler eller Dend meget talende Barbeer) is a satirical play written by the Norwegian-Danish playwright Ludvig Holberg. It premiered in five sets at the Lille Grønnegade Theatre in Copenhagen on 28 October 1722 but Holberg later adapted it into a one- set version.

Gert Westphaler
Gert Westphaler poster, the oldest preserved poster for a Holberg play
Written byLudvig Holberg
Date premiered1722
Place premieredLille Grønnegade Theatre,
Copenhagen, Denmark
Original languageDanish
GenreComedy
SettingDenmark

Reception

edit

Holberg comments on the reception of the play in his first Latin-language memoir from 1728: The Loquacious Barber displeased almost all spectators in the audience to such an extent that quite a few left before it ended, some discretely and secretly, others openly and bluntly. I had expected something else, having always loved this eye-nest of mine among my comedies. [1]

Adaptions

edit

DR has produced a "made for television version" of the play that was first broadcast on 29 March 1976. It was directed by Hans Rosenquist and was starring Stig Hoffmeyer, Ruth Brejnholm, Lisbet Lipschitz]and Ejnar Hans Jensen.[2]

English translations

edit
  • Holberg, Ludvig (1827). "The Babbling Barber: A Comedy in One Act". The Odd Volume: Second Series. Translated by Corbett, M. London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green. pp. 291–348. OCLC 11855940.
  • —— (1950). Seven One-act Plays. Translated by Alexander, Henry. Princeton University Press for the American-Scandinavian Foundation. OCLC 1612009.

References

edit
  1. ^ "Mester Gert Westphaler". saxo.no (in Norwegian). Retrieved 27 March 2018.
  2. ^ "Gert Westphaler og den meget talende barber". carlthdreyer.dk (in Norwegian). Retrieved 27 March 2018.
edit