First Mystery Drama (ePub)

The four Mystery Dramas were created, produced and printed one each year, one after the other, from 1910-1913. They took place in different theatres in Munich but always in the month of August. The writing of the dramas, the creating of the scenery, the making of the costumes, the learning of roles, the general directing, the organization of the printing and all the other inummerable things connected with such a major production happened within a matter of weeks before the main performance. There was a literal whirlwind of activity, and it is reported that often the scenes were written during the night before a scheduled rehearsal, and that at five or six in the morning a boy would come from the press to pick up the manuscript for the printing of the scene for that day's rehearsal.All this activity centered around Rudolf Steiner who gave directions or advice on every aspect of the production down to the smallest details. He not only wrote the dramas themselves, but also indicated how such soul and spiritual pictures could be presented and played on stage.A fifth drama was also planned, which was to include scenes from Ancient Greece and its mystery centers, but the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914 meant that it had to be postponed. Rudolf Steiner's early death in 1925 resulted in it never coming to production, nor ever being written down.The First Mystery DramaFor ten years, Johannes has been working with Maria on art and on spiritual understanding. They both have the intention to make available the spiritual truths, which she is trying to research, in an artistic way, which he is trying to carry out, to the general public. Johannes has already had a relationship with a woman previously when he was younger, but he left her in order to work with Maria. She and Johannes had no intimate love relationship to begin with, but as time passed, Johannes has fallen in love with Maria and wishes to have such a relationship. She, however, wishes it to remain a platonic working partnership, since her main interest is in his art and in spiritual development.As Johannes reaches the crisis point where he has to admit to himself that the relationship he wishes with Maria will not come about, he is also thrown into uncertainity about the whole purpose and significance of his artistic development and the spiritual knowledge that he has also striven to master. Yet these two areas of crisis in his life do not, significantly, cause his complete emotional/ personal break down. At the key moment when these two crisis reach a peak, Johannes hears an address by Benedictus that illuminates very significant aspects of his soul life. This also causes him to be able to see other people in a new light, and on the basis of this, to be able to painfully reassess himself and his path in life.One consequence is that Johannes recognises that he is responisble for the moral failures that he has committed in the past, and the other consequence is that he recognises that how he acts with regard to other human beings now, will have consequences for their and his own soul-spiritual development in the future. This is turn allows him to see further into the realm of soul and spirit where he is able to understand that spiritual beings can and will act through us if we do not fully comprehend and lead ourselves. He sees how Maria is possessed by a certain being which takes advantage of something in her she is not aware of. When Benedictus, through his words, makes her aware of it, that being must leave Maria, and she is able to make a major step in her development...