Expressionism is the production style, as Vogel took so much inspiration from German culture and literature as well as the film noir that contains so many qualities of Expressionism Theatre. Expressionism was a short-lived style which rose in Germany in the 1900s, Expressionism was rebellion in the theatre against realism and naturalism and its impact was intense.
Expressionism has the same qualities of the film noir, such as an episodic and non-linear storyline, dark dreamlike, almost surreal atmosphere. Expressionism focused on and dealt with the inner the qualities of the protagonist and humanity. Expressionism often dramatized the spiritual awakening and the sufferings of their protagonists and are referred to as Stationendramen (station dramas), modeled on the episodic presentation of the suffering and death of Jesus in the Stations of the Cross. To learn more about Expresssionism Click Here
Today’s Relation
Paula’s intent in writing on taboo subjects is to the conversation going. She writes her plays backwards, moving from the emotional circumstances and character craft to narrative structure. Vogel’s writings aren’t guided by issues, instead they are guided about things that directly impact her life. In all of her plays she has places where she sends little messages to Carl, something added in the atmosphere that challenges homophobia in the world.
Medicine, and AIDS research have come far and we are in a decent place with treatment in 2016. However, the negative connotation, backlash, violence and homophobia is still present and has also grown. It stems from social media, politicians and cyber bullying. It has evolve into transphobia, and rejection of the LGBTQIA community. I think what we learn from the play is the same thing people learned when it first premiered. The lesson that teachers us that homophobia is not the fear of anything but instead, just pure ignorance. Paula also teaches us that it is okay to grieve and that there are many of ways to grieve.
Leave the world with no regrets.
And dance with those you love, as one day you will never be able to again.
Secondary Themes include:
Anna and Carl’s relationship.
A desire and search for intimacy after losing someone whom you shared intimate moments with.
Homophobia
The dealing of black market drugs.
The AIDS Epidemic - More Information on The AIDS Epidemic Can Be Found Here
Title Significance: The significance of the title includes some very important details, the play takes place within John’s Hopkins in Baltimore, MD. The waltz part is a play on words as throughout the play, Anna is dancing around the fact that Carl is dead.
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To watch, The Third Man, click here.
Style, Themes, and Influences of The Baltimore Waltz
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The Two Primary Theme of The Baltimore Waltz are the Five Stages of Grief and the processessin of it.
The Five Stages of Dying and Grief
In the 1969, Dr. Elisabeth Kubler Ross, a Swiss psychiatrist studied and interview over 200 terminally ill patients in order to write her book, On Death and Dying. Throughout these studies and interviews she found that patients underwent a grieving process of five stages. These stages are known as the Grief Cycle. The stages are:
Denial, which encompasses emotions of avoidance, confusion, elation, shock and fear.
Anger, encompassing frustration, irritation, anxiety, rage, and envy.
Depression, overwhelming sadness, helplessness, hostility and flight.
Bargaining, which is the struggle to find meaning and to reach out to others, telling one’s story. Bargaining with a higher being for more time.
Acceptance, which is exploring options, making a new plan and then eventually moving on.
To read more about the Five Stages of Grief, click here for more detailed definitions, and examples.
Structure:
The Structure of The Baltimore Waltz was that of a noose-like structure taken from the short story by Ambrose Bierce, “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”. Vogel realized after figuring out what she wanted to write, she had to steal the plot form. Kenneth Burke has said there are five major plot forms.
- Generic and Synthetic Fragment (Heiner Mueller’s Works)
- Linear
- Shakespearean/Epic which is Linear with Big Gaps
- Circle (Beckett) where the beginning and the ending is the same.
- Pattern which was given to us by Mamet.
The short story is about a soldier is about to be hung for abandoning the civil war. The lead him to the bridge, tie the noose around his neck, throws him off the bridge and then rope breaks. He alludes capture and runs back home to where his wife is awaiting the news of his death. He sees her, she sees him and just as the two embrace, his neck is broken by a one second form. The story reverts back to his hanging, the fantasy finally shattered.
The short story ends, “Peyton Fahrquhar was dead; his body, with a broken neck, swung gently from side to side beneath the timbers of the Owl Creek bridge.” (Page 19)
Vogel says, “If you think about that form, it is ruthlessly syllogistic, with a great big circle in the middle. So what AB did when he created the plot form . . . he created noose, which is if you literally diagram
“An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge”, you get a noose.”
This is reflective of The Baltimore Waltz, as we see Anna and Carl go on this fantasy trip, only to be revealed at the end that her brother Carl died. When is dies, is not as clear as it the death in “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge.” But the one second form is the same.
To read the entirety of "An Occurence At Owl Creek Bridge" click here.
Production Style and Influences
Vogel takes a lot of references and even characters from the noir film, The Third Man, she has even taken entire scenes from it. In the film, the unemployed pulp fiction writer Holly Martins arrives in post-WWII Vienna to meet with his old friend from school, Harry Lime, who has offered him a job. Upon arrival, he learned that Harry has just died, having been hit by a car. Martins attends Lime’s funeral and meets Anna, who was Harry’s love. Having been told conflicting stories about the circumstances surrounding Lime’s death, Martin’s decided to investigate further and discovers that Harry Lime was the leader of a gang that robbed penicillin from the military hospital to dilute and resell it on the black market and he had faked his death to go underground.
Film noir generally refers to mystery and crime drama that were produced from the early 1940s to the late 1950s. These movies were shot in black and white, featured stories of femme fatales, doomed heroes of anti0horoes, and tough and cynical detectives. The term itself is French for black film
The storylines were often elliptical and non-linear, like our play here. The narrations were complex, and almost maze like and were underscored with foreboding music. There were flashbacks, sharp and witty dialogue. The Baltimore Waltz takes on many of these elements from The Third Man.