Arnold Schönberg’s Pierot Lunaire and the Aftermath: From Jikken Kōbō to Bruce Labruce

The history of Pierrot and his reception in various artistic genres covers more than 400 years. From his minor role as a commedia dell’arte figure, Pierrot emancipated himself to become the eccentric main character, asserting himself in the visual arts, in nineteenth-centuryantomimes, in musical settings, in film, in ballet and in various genres of popular culture such as manga and anime. To evaluate the two adaptations of Schönberg’s Pierrot lunaire that are in focus here—the Japanese stage version by Jikken Kōbō (Experimental Workshop, 1955) and the film version by Bruce LaBruce, Pierrot lunaire: Butch Dandy (2014)—it is helpful to take a look at the history of their reception. Cultural-historical interdependencies and genre transgressions constantly give rise to new facets of Schönberg’s key work composed in 1912, while the question remains as to how far these adaptations serve the work or merely use it for their own purposes.