COMMENTS ON GOETHE AND PSYCHODRAMA

Abstract

Professor Diener indeed has rendered a great service to the philosophy, history and science of psychodrama. It is therefore a special honor to know that the great poet and philosopher Johann Wolfgang von Goethe thought along psychodramatic lines and that he wrote plays on the subject. There is no writer in the Anglo-saxon literature, not even Shakespeare, who has at- tained Goethe's rank as an overall creator in the sciences and arts.

I was aware that Goethe was interested in impromptu theater. In his book Die Lehrjahre, second book, ninth chapter, he wrote: "Das Stegreif- theater soll in jedem Theater eingefuhrt werden. Das Ensemble soll regelmas- sig auf diese Weise trainiert werden. Das Publikum wiirde profitieren wenn ein ungeschriebenes Spiel einmal im Monat aufgeflihrt wird." "Spontaneity theater should be introduced into every theater. The ensemble should be trained regularly in this manner. The public would benefit if an unwritten play were produced once a month."