Iffland, August Wilhelm

The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre | 1996 | 700+ words | Copyright

Iffland, August Wilhelm (1759–1814), German actor and playwright, who virtually controlled the National Theatre at Mannheim from its foundation in 1778 until 1796, playing Franz Moor in the first production of Schiller's Die Räuber (1781) and appearing in many of his own plays. Though now forgotten, these were very successful in their own day and several were translated into English, among them his best-known work, Die Jäger (1785), as The Foresters in 1799. Iffland catered for a popular audience, for whom he turned domestic tragedies into sentimental family dramas with happy endings. As an actor he had a fine technique but no depth, and he was at his best in elderly witty roles in dignified comedy. In 1796 he left Mannheim for Berlin, where he remained until his death, training a number of young actors, including Ludwig Devrient, not in his own virtuoso style but in the serious, sober methods of Schröder.

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PHYLLIS HARTNOLL and PETER FOUND. "Iffland, August Wilhelm." The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. 10 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

PHYLLIS HARTNOLL and PETER FOUND. "Iffland, August Wilhelm." The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. (February 10, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O79-IfflandAugustWilhelm.html

PHYLLIS HARTNOLL and PETER FOUND. "Iffland, August Wilhelm." The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre. 1996. Retrieved February 10, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O79-IfflandAugustWilhelm.html

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