Synopsis:
Though written at the cusp of the Medieval and Renaissance eras, Der Ackermann aus Böhmen (literally 'The Plowman from Bohemia') is strikingly modern. It is probably literature's most provocative argument between man and death, and is intensely rewarding to read today. Its author, known as Johannes von Tepl and Johannes von Schüttwa, was a town clerk and school rector in Saatz and public notary in the Diocese of Prague. The piece is widely known in Germany (where is widely regarded as the first important prose work in the German language) and has only been adapted to the English speaking stage twice in our memory: at the Gate Theatre in London in 2002 and by Anne Bogart's SITI Company in 2004. Both used a much more "contemporized" translation by Michael West.
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