Danton's Death (Dantons Tod) was the first play written by Georg Büchner, set during the French Revolution.

Georg Büchner wrote his works in the period between Romanticism and Realism in the so-called Vormärz era in German history and literature. The goal of the politically-liberal poets of this period was that literature of a sham existence would again become an effective organ for renewing political and social life. They were opposed to the Romantics and against the restoration of the old order from prior to the Napoleonic Wars. They fought against convention, feudalism and absolutism , campaigned for freedom of speech, the emancipation of the individual, including women and Jews, and for a democratic constitution. They created a trend-poetry and time-poetry - in other words, poetry that dealt with problems of the time and with a commitment to liberal political ideas. Other writers of this trend and period were Heinrich Heine (author of Deutschland. Ein Wintermärchen and Atta Troll. Ein Sommernachtstraum), Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (author of Faust and Erlkönig) and Franz Grillparzer (author of Weh dem, der lügt).

Shane Briant (born 17 August 1946 in London, England) is an actor and novelist. Briant studied Law at Trinity College Dublin but became a professional actor playing the name role in Hamlet at the Eblana Theatre, Dublin. He currently resides in Sydney, Australia.

A year later he played one of the leads in Children of the Wolf, with Sheelagh Cullen and Yvonne Mitchell at London's Apollo Theatre. Briant was subsequently nominated for the 'Best Newcomer' award by the London theatre critics that year for this role. Put under contract at Elstree Film Studios in late 1973, Briant starred in four films; Straight on Till Morning, Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell, Captain Kronos - Vampire Hunter and Demons of the Mind. He also appeared in television series such as Van der Valk, The Sweeney as well as Jack Gold's The Naked Civil Servant with John Hurt. During this time Briant appeared in countless BBC drama series and Plays of the Month, most notably Warris Hussein's Notorious Woman opposite Rosemary Harris, George Chakiris and Jeremy Irons. In 1974, in Hollywood, he played the name role in Glenn Jordan's The Picture of Dorian Gray a two part Movie of the Week for America's ABC network. Other later film and television credits include John Huston's The Mackintosh Man with Paul Newman; guest starring in Jeffrey Bloom's Veronica Clare; playing Jack Palance's son in the film Hawk the Slayer, starring in David Wolper's Murder is Easy with Olivia de Havilland, and Just Jaekin's Lady Chatterley's Lover.