Der zerbrochne Krug

Play by Heinrich von Kleist

Introduction at 6:30 p.m.

Tübingen State Theater (LTT)
Directed byAlexander Marusch
Set & Costumes byCornelia Stephan 
Music byMarco Nola 
StarringFriederike Pöschel, Martin Bringmann, Rolf Kindermann, Sabine Weithöner, Sarah Liebert, Leo Kramer, Emma Stratmann

In this LTT production, Heinrich von Kleist’s famous courtroom comedy depicts a world that is at once comical, cruel, and disturbingly relevant today. Village judge Adam is tasked with investigating the nighttime incident in young Eve’s chamber—an alleged love affair, a broken jug, a shattered family’s happiness. But the further the trial progresses, the clearer it becomes: The judge is passing judgment on himself. Judge Adam committed the assault, which he is now trying to cover up by any means necessary, and in doing so becomes increasingly entangled in excuses, threats, and lies.

Director Alexander Marusch chooses Kleist’s rarely performed “Variant” version, in which Eve herself speaks at the end. Her testimony relentlessly brings the core of the play into sharp focus: the experience of sexualized violence and a village community that would rather argue over broken pottery than stand by a young woman. Even Judge Walter—portrayed as a woman in this production—is part of a system that prioritizes power over people. Thus, the Landestheater Tübingen offers a sharp-eyed portrayal of how a patriarchal structure shields perpetrators and silences victims once again—then as now.

Cornelia Stephan’s set depicts a familiar village square that simultaneously serves as the town council chamber, a courtroom, and the scene of harrowing intimate encounters. The characters remain almost constantly visible on stage—a clear sign that no one in the village is truly innocent or uninvolved. Straddling the line between humor and tragedy, the play unfolds to expose the mechanisms of power, voyeurism, and societal indifference.