Frank Wedekind’s Pandora’s Box is based on the story of Lulu. The play, titled Die Büchse der Pandora in German, continues the dramatic portrait of Lulu begun in Wedekind’s earlier play Erdgeist, or Earth Spirit.
Lulu is an alluring and controversial figure whose relationships drive the plot. Wedekind presents her through themes involving sexuality, social hypocrisy, power, violence, and the destructive consequences of people’s desires. The character became especially famous through later stage and film adaptations, including Georg Wilhelm Pabst’s 1929 film Pandora’s Box, in which Louise Brooks plays Lulu.
The title uses Pandora as a cultural analogy rather than offering a scene-by-scene version of the ancient Greek myth. Like Pandora’s container, Lulu is associated with consequences that cannot easily be contained once unleashed. Wedekind’s two Lulu plays were controversial in their original period and were subject to censorship and performance restrictions. Their influence extended beyond theatre into opera, film, and modern discussions of gender and representation.