Das Heilige Experiment

Das Heilige Experiment ("The holy experiment") is a German play by Austrian playwright Fritz Hochwälder (Fritz Hochwaelder, 1911-1986)[1].

The original text

Hochwälder wrote social and political dramas, using historical themes in his plays and Das Heilige Experiment, written in 1942-3, drew on the violent dismantling of a utopian Jesuit settlement and the expulsion of Jesuits from Paraguay in 1767.

Translations and adaptations

The play has been translated into French as Sur la Terre Comme au Ciel ("On Earth as in Heaven") by J. Mercure and R. Thieberger and was then adapted into English as The Strong Are Lonely by Eva Le Gallienne, apparently based on the French version. The English version of the play was first staged in London in November 1955 and a BBC TV adaptation was first broadcast on Sunday 3 June 1956.

Translated into Afrikaans and adapted for radio as Die Heilige Eksperiment by Johan Olivier, broadcast by the SABC.

An interesting South African note: Should one credit Frederic M. Litto's (surely erroneous) attribution of a play called The Strong Are Lonely to the South African playwright Basil Warner, the German (or French?) play may possibly have been translated under that title by Warner for performance in South Africa. However, it is more likely that Litto is confusing this play with Try for White, Warner's really influential play on race issues, and the only published theatrical work by Warner on record.