A review by msand3
Kabale und Liebe by Friedrich Schiller

3.0

Schiller's third drama, Intrigue and Love, is his most tightly plotted to that point, with only a small number of characters revolving around the doomed love affair of Ferdinand (son of a noble president) and Luise (daughter of a humble music teacher). The Romeo and Juliet plot is not original. The events are melodramatic to the extreme, with an extended ending that pushes the limits of the audience's suspension of disbelief. I actually enjoyed the play very much, but merely as light entertainment, hence the lower rating. I feel it failed to tackle the big ideas of Schiller's previous dramas. It's a play about love, politics, and jealousy, but it didn't challenge any of my perspectives or shed in any new light on those old dramatic themes. If I were rating this for pure enjoyment, I would give it four stars (with the silly ending ruining the five-star rating), but I just can't get past the soap opera elements, which made me feel a bit guilty for enjoying the play as much as I did.