Which playwright created Lulu, the central character in the plays behind Pandora’s Box?

Frank Wedekind created Lulu, the central character in the plays behind Pandora’s Box. Wedekind introduced Lulu in Erdgeist, published in 1895, and continued her story in Die Büchse der Pandora, published in 1904. The two works are often performed together as the Lulu cycle.

G. W. Pabst’s 1929 film Pandora’s Box draws primarily on these plays, with Louise Brooks playing Lulu. Wedekind’s Lulu is not Pandora from Greek mythology, but the connection comes from the title of the second play and its image of a woman whose presence unleashes destructive consequences.

The plays belong to the German-language theatre of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Their themes, including sexuality, social hypocrisy, and power, have led to many stage, film, and operatic adaptations.