Murderer, the Women's Hope (short expressionist play) written by Oskar Kokoschka (1886 - 1980) and first performed at the Kunstschau Theatre in Vienna in 1909.

   A scene from Murderer, the Women's Hope (short expressionist play) written by the Austrian painter and playwright Oskar Kokoschka (1886 - 1980) and first performed, under the direction of  Ernst Reinhold, at the Kunstschau Theatre in Vienna, on 4 July 1909.

   The production of the first German Expressionist play, Murderer, the Women's Hope (Mörder, Hoffnung der Frauen), broke upon the staid Vienna art scene with the force of scandal in 1909. (Although Kokoschka is credited with having written and performed Murderer, The Women's Hope in 1907 and 1908, his own accounts of the improvised rehearsal for the July 4, 1909 production at the Kunstschau make it doubtful that an earlier script or production could have existed.) Oskar Kokoschka angered the public and most of the critics with his play, which they considered dangerous to the public morals and offensive to esthetics.

Oskar Kokoschka. Pietà (Poster for Murderer, Hope of Women), 1909