The play is a raucous sex comedy, that was simply too outrageous to be staged in Britain when originally written, so it premiered in a German production in 1973 at the Bochum Schauspielhaus, directed by Peter Zadek. It wasn’t until 1975 that the play was produced at the Liverpool Everyman Theatre. It then transferred to the Mermaid Theatre and the Garrick in London the following year. The play was nominated for the Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Comedy and made stars out of its cast, one that included Julie Walters, Pete Postlethwaite and Bill Nighy.
Loosely based on the story by George Buchner. Jacob Lenz, gifted, highly intelligent but seriously unbalanced, is invited to stay at the house of Oberlin, a philanthropic parson. The play examines the effects on the household of Lenz's erratic, somet…
