Nathan der Weise

2 hours - No intermission
Lessing's Enlightenment drama opens with a dystopian scenario: when the Jewish merchant Nathan returns from a journey, his house lies in ashes after a fire. His daughter Recha has escaped the flames thanks to the help of a Christian temple lord. The political situation in 12th century Jerusalem is tense, the truce negotiated in the course of the Third Crusade threatens to collapse. Representatives of Christianity, Judaism and Islam stand opposite each other, seemingly irreconcilable on the question of the "true religion". Nathan tries to find a conciliatory answer to this question in the Ring Parable.

Lessing's enlightenment drama opens with a dystopian scenario: when the Jewish merchant Nathan returns from a journey, his house lies in ashes after a fire. His daughter Recha has escaped the flames thanks to the help of a Christian temple lord. The political situation in 12th century Jerusalem is tense, the truce negotiated in the course of the Third Crusade threatens to collapse. Representatives of Christianity, Judaism and Islam stand opposite each other, seemingly irreconcilable on the question of the "true religion". Nathan tries to find a conciliatory answer to this with the Ring Parable. It is a plea for tolerance, humanity and peaceful coexistence - and has lost none of its relevance over 240 years after the drama was written. It has parallels to the legend of the amphibian bird from Wajdi Mouawad's play VÖGEL, which Stefan Bachmann staged in four languages in 2019. Now he continues the examination of the meaning of identity and religion against the backdrop of family relationships. Will the budding love between Recha and the temple lord meet the same fate as Wahida and Eitan from Mouawad's BIRDS? Information for school groups Due to high demand, we ask that booking requests from school groups not be made through our ticket service, but rather at gruppen@buehnen.koeln. Further offers for pupils and teachers can be found here: THEATER - STADT - SCHULE Press reviews "At Schauspiel Köln, the medieval drama becomes a modern narrative." Süddeutsche Zeitung "This is sustainability: two plays are performed with the same cast in the same set. What at first glance seems like a clever cost-cutting measure by artistic director Stefan Bachmann is ultimately a great idea by director Stefan Bachmann: It highlights the parallels between "Vögel," which he staged to open the 2019 season, and "Nathan der Weise," with which he has now opened the current season." Kölnische Rundschau "The ending (...) succeeds: the reconciled, who just now threatened to fly off in all directions spreading their arms as wings (a self-quotation from the "Vögel" production), come together once again to belt out Udo Lindenberg's "Wir ziehen in den Frieden"." Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger