Frank Wedekind’s 1904 play Pandora’s Box is the sequel to Earth Spirit. The two dramas together form the Lulu cycle, centered on a charismatic woman whose relationships expose sexual, social, and economic power structures.
Earth Spirit premiered in 1895 and introduces Lulu’s world, while Pandora’s Box continues her story. Wedekind’s treatment challenged conventional theatrical morality and provoked controversy because of its frank subjects and refusal to make Lulu fit a simple virtuous-or-villainous model.
The 1929 film directed by G. W. Pabst draws on both plays rather than adapting only the second title. That film’s title and Louise Brooks’s performance made the Lulu story internationally famous, even though many viewers encounter the character first through cinema rather than Wedekind’s stage work.
The play’s title also helped create a frequent mix-up with Hesiod’s ancient myth. Wedekind borrows the Pandora association as a thematic frame, but his Lulu is a modern dramatic character, not the woman from Greek mythology.