Das Leben ein Traum

Palace and tomb, splendor and decay, fate and damnation - in 1635, between war and plague, the Spanish author Calderón de la Barca poses the big questions about the existence of man and just rule.

On the advice of the stars, King Basileus has locked away his son Sigismund from birth. Now he ventures a political experiment. Completely unprepared, he makes Sigismund king for a day. Despite the fact that the heir to the throne turns out to be a beast, the people insist on their rightful ruler. Stemming from Christian philosophy, the baroque drama asks whether our earthly life is just a short dream - and who is dreaming it. The German premiere took place in Hamburg as early as 1639. The material has fascinated artists from Goethe to Grillparzer and Pasolini.

It is now being staged at the Thalia Theater by Dutchman Johan Simons, a formative director of European theater and artistic director of the Bochum Schauspielhaus. Simons regularly works with the Thalia Theater ensemble, and his Hamburg production of "Schimmelreiter" was invited to the Theatertreffen in Berlin. After Dostoyevsky's "The Idiot", Simons is now once again bringing world literature to the Alstertor.

Premiere on March 22, 2024, Thalia Theater