Frank Wedekind’s Pandora’s Box premiered in 1904 as the second part of his Lulu drama.
The play follows Earth Spirit, which introduced Lulu and established the dramatic world continued in Pandora’s Box. Wedekind’s two plays examine sexuality, social hypocrisy, power, and the destructive judgments directed at an unconventional woman.
Pandora’s Box was first performed in Nuremberg in 1904. Its reception was controversial, and the work was subject to censorship and legal disputes because of its sexual content and provocative treatment of respectable society. Wedekind later performed the role of Jack the Ripper in the play’s final act.
The drama’s title helped inspire later adaptations, especially G. W. Pabst’s 1929 film. That film combined material from both Lulu plays rather than adapting Pandora’s Box alone. The stage work therefore sits at the center of the modern cultural history attached to Pandora’s name.