Tod in Venedig

"Those who are beside themselves detest nothing more than going back into themselves."

Cholera is spreading. Discreet attempts are made to disinfect Venice's streets. Secretly, a balance is struck between protecting against the epidemic and the interests of foreign businesses and the recently opened painting exhibition. There is no reliable information on infection figures, but rumors of an imminent lockdown are circulating among the locals.

The international bohemians enjoying their summer retreat at the Grand Hotel are unaware of the danger. Wealthy Frenchmen, Poles, Russians, Englishmen and Germans enjoy the decadent life on the Lido between the beach and the dining room. The bourgeois writer Gustav von Aschenbach discovers the epitome of beauty and transience in the Polish boy Tadzio. Fatalistically, the serious German loses himself in this last self-destructive passion. When he learns of the epidemic, he also decides to remain silent: attracted by the state of emergency, the "fantastic horror" of the pandemic, this "terrible secret of the city, which merged with his own secret and which he was also very keen to preserve". Throughout his
He spent his life striving for dignity and discipline, but threw his self-respect and morals overboard and surrendered to decay.

Bastian Kraft's productions at the Thalia Theater include "Amerika" based on Franz Kafka, "Der zerbrochne Krug" (awarded the Rolf Mares Prize) and "Dancer in the Dark". He has repeatedly adapted important novels for the stage, for example Dostoyevsky's "Crime and Punishment" (Frankfurt) and Thomas Mann's "The Buddenbrooks" (Zurich) and "Felix Krull" (Volkstheater Munich).

Duration 1:25h, no intermission

Premiere January 8, 2022, Thalia Gauss