Emilia Galotti

Emilia wants both - a groom and a lover, marriage and adventure. Unfortunately, she cannot fulfill the expectation that, as a woman, she will be faithful to her decision. In the guise of a bourgeois tragedy, the 18th century Enlightenment writer Lessing writes a fast-paced thriller plot. With great energy, his female characters try to free themselves from the attributions and expectations placed on their gender. After his heroine Emilia Galotti discovers her own will and desire as a pure innocent, there is no turning back for her. Her rival Orsina, rejected by the prince because she thinks for herself and talks too much, and her mother Claudia, who can only realize herself through her daughter, are also looking for a way out. But what to do with men in power who want to call the shots? Led by a prince who is quite naturally allowed to discard one mistress and take on a new one. After all, he is a man and his desires are free. With a father who sees it as his responsibility to raise Emilia to be a good wife. And the careerist Marinelli, who keeps the plot going by literally walking over dead bodies for his advancement and career. Where in this world are the values for which Lessing's heroine is supposed to kill herself at the end of the drama? Is there no other conclusion?

Anne Lenk's unusual productions of classics from the Deutsches Theater Berlin, "The Misanthrope" by Molière and "Mary Stuart" by Friedrich Schiller, were invited to the Berlin Theatertreffen in 2020/21. The director has already worked regularly at the Thalia, and her world premiere of Finn-Ole Heinrich's "Räuberhände" has been running successfully in the Gaußstraße repertoire since 2013. Most recently, she staged Chekhov's "Three Sisters" at the Thalia Theater.

Premiere on June 1, 2024, Thalia Theater