Dantons Tod

In the organizer's words:

"Danton's Death", written in just five weeks in 1835 by the twenty-two-year-old Georg Büchner after extensive studies, is based on historical sources and documents from the French Revolution, whose maxim of "liberty, equality, fraternity" has shaped our understanding of modern European democracies. However, Büchner does not recount the triumphant beginning, the storming of the Bastille, which is still celebrated today, when the fight was for the people, but focuses on a few days towards the end of the Jacobins' so-called reign of terror in the spring of 1794. The former companions Danton, epicurean and melancholic, and Robespierre, virtue terrorist and dogmatist, face each other as ideological opponents. The revolution means only the terror of the guillotine, to which the revolutionaries themselves fall victim. Büchner notes in a letter: "I am studying the history of the revolution. I felt as if I had been destroyed by the ghastly fatalism of history."

"We are puppets, pulled by the wire by unknown forces; nothing, nothing ourselves!"

"Danton's Death", the only work by the poet, physician and revolutionary to be published during his lifetime, revolves around ever-relevant questions: about the necessity and legitimacy of violence in the pursuit of political goals, about the individual's ability to shape the wheels of existence, about the (non-)existence of God, about the (im)possibility of love, about human loneliness (in the face of death) - and is nothing less than a poetic examination of the human condition.

The production is directed by Sebastian Baumgarten, one of the most distinguished (music) theater directors of his generation.

ARTISTIC DIRECTION

Production Sebastian Baumgarten

Stage Thilo Reuther

Costumes Jana Findeklee, Joki Tewes

Video Chris Kondek

Composition and sound design Christoph Clöser

Lighting Gerrit Jurda

Dramaturgy Constanze Kargl

Price information:

Student tickets for 10€