August Wilhelm Iffland

Who was August Wilhelm Iffland?

August Wilhelm Iffland was a German actor and dramatic author. His father intended him to be a clergyman, but Iffland preferred the stage, and at eighteen ran away to Gotha in order to prepare himself for a theatrical career.

He received instruction from Hans Ekhof, and made such rapid progress that he was able to accept an engagement at the theater in Mannheim in 1779, beginning his rise into prominence. He soon stood high in his profession, and enhanced his reputation by frequently playing in other towns. In 1796 he settled in Berlin, where he became director of the national theater of Prussia, and in 1811 he was made general director of all presentations before royalty.

Iffland produced the classical works of Goethe and Schiller with conscientious care, but he had little understanding for the drama of the romantic writers. The form of play in which he was most at home, both as an actor and playwright, was the domestic drama, the sentimental play of everyday life. His works show little imagination, but they display a thorough mastery of the technical necessities of the stage, and a remarkable power of devising effective situations. His best characters are simple and natural, fond of domestic life, but too much given the utterance of commonplace sentimentality.