Droge Faust

In the organizer's words:

The fascination with drug use, but also its destructive power, is as old as humanity itself. Whether pills, powders or mushrooms: every substance holds its own promise - and its own abyss. Performance or relaxation, higher knowledge or a total crash: the drugs we consume always tell us something about ourselves and the society we live in. Some only try them once, some use them at parties, and for others the drug has become an addiction.

In his search for meaning in "what holds the world together at its core", the scholar Faust in Goethe's classic of the same name also explores the potential of intoxicants: At the beginning of the play, he reaches for a glass jar of mysterious liquid and subsequently has both euphoric and devastating experiences - from the witches' rejuvenating potion on Walpurgis Night to the wine binge in Auerbach's cellar.

13 young performers spent six months examining the significance and effects of drugs in Goethe's FAUST and in our society. They also conducted interviews with experts: Employees of an addiction counseling center, club owners, a paramedic, a dealer, the Federal Minister of Health and many more. Author Janette Mickan interweaves passages from these interviews with Goethe's FAUST to create a text that sheds light on the topic of drugs in a variety of ways. In this way, the young people venture a theatrical experiment on the intoxicating temptations.