Hands Around (Reigen/La Ronde)

“a cycle of ten dialogues” by Arthur Schnitzler

Written in 1897, Hands Around was considered so sexually explicit, it was not performed until 1920 and even then it was controversial. That same year it was translated into English for the first time. Exposing the decadence of Austrian society at the turn of the 20th century, each of its ten scenes presents a sexual liaison from which one of the lovers proceeds into the following scene until the circle (or roundelay) is complete. Contemporary audiences may be more familiar with the 1950 film La Ronde from French director, Max Ophüls, or with David Hare’s 1998 adaptation, The Blue Room.

The script will be shared on screen as before for everyone to read along, but you can pre-download the PDF below with other formats for e-readers available from the Internet Archive.

Download the PDF script here.