Tragicomedy by Gerhart Hauptmann
In his play, which premiered in 1911, Gerhart Hauptmann uses a tenement as a reflection of society: in the attic, the unemployed theater director Hassenreuter keeps his costume collection and secretly pursues amorous pleasures. Sometimes acting classes are also held up there, with heated arguments about whether art should be beautiful or reflect real life. Meanwhile, on the middle floor, Hassenreuter's cleaning lady Henriette John dreams of a completely different kind of happiness: when she finds out about the unwanted pregnancy of the maid Pauline Piperkarcka, she offers to buy the child from the desperate young woman. However, Pauline quickly regrets the deal and names Mrs. John as her foster mother. Alarmed, Mrs. John flees with the child. Meanwhile, Pauline accidentally mistakes the morphinist Knobbe's underdeveloped baby for her own, who dies in front of the arguing parties. And Mrs. John's husband Paul, who previously worked as a bricklayer's foreman in Altona and left his wife alone for months, wants to separate from her when he realizes the truth about his sudden paternity. Driven into a corner, Mrs. John sees no way out.
