Don Karlos

In the organizer's words:

Spain in the 16th century. The halcyon days of Aranjuez are over, if they ever existed. The Inquisition is raging. King Philip II rules the Spanish empire with an authoritarian hand. Oppression is a natural part of his instruments of power. The Marquis of Posa opposes this state power. "Give freedom of thought" is his famous demand. Posa's vision is a just state based on tolerance, equality and freedom. Posa hopes to find a comrade-in-arms for the fight for freedom in the crown prince Don Carlos, his childhood friend. But Don Carlos has other things on his mind - namely love. Of all people, he loves his stepmother, Elisabeth of Valois, the queen who was initially promised to him. His father took her as his wife for reasons of power politics. It is a hopeless love affair, just as hopeless as Don Carlos' political prospects. His father refuses to allow him to take on any responsibility.

A variety of intrigues unfold. One plot follows the next. Jealousy and a thirst for recognition threaten to erode the last remnants of prudent behavior. Even the Marquis of Posa, who relies on reason, is in danger of succumbing to the power-hungry game.

Family drama and political tragedy: Friedrich Schiller's play, written two years before the French Revolution, proves how fragile the Enlightenment is with its values such as reason, freedom and human rights when the pure instinct for power gains the upper hand. The generational conflict brings this drama of ideas, which is also full of emotion, to a head.