Frank Wedekind wrote the plays Earth Spirit and Pandora’s Box, which form the basis for Lulu.
Frank Wedekind was a German playwright whose Lulu dramas center on an alluring, controversial woman and the social forces surrounding her. Earth Spirit premiered in 1895, while Pandora’s Box followed in 1904. Together, the plays are commonly known as the Lulu plays.
Wedekind’s Pandora’s Box is not a translation of Hesiod’s Greek myth. Instead, its title invokes the mythological idea of a woman associated with danger, desire, and consequences. The two plays later inspired adaptations in film, opera, and other media, including Georg Wilhelm Pabst’s 1929 film starring Louise Brooks.
The work is often discussed in relation to fin-de-siècle European drama and changing attitudes toward sexuality, gender, and respectability. Modern readers should distinguish Wedekind’s Lulu from the original mythological Pandora: they are connected by title and symbolism, not by being the same character.