A sequence of passionate attitudes after Jelgerhuis

The 1815 production of Goethe / Eberwein’s monodrama Proserpina featured the actress Amalie Wolff in a staging so extraordinary that it was documented by Goethe and other contemporaries. This article explores how the documentation on her movements, including gestural attitudes and the use of costume, can be combined with acting techniques as described by the Dutch actor Johannes Jelgerhuis (1770–1836) to inspire an acting style which feels right for performing Proserpina. The reader is guided through the creative processes leading from a physical understanding of attitudes in silence, to using them with spoken text, and eventually to creating a unity between attitudes, movement, and the music.