Le Theatertreffen débute avec le classique du siècle des Lumières "Nathan le sage".
Published: Thursday, May 2nd 2024, 20:00
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A production of Lessing's Enlightenment classic "Nathan the Wise" has opened the Theatertreffen in Berlin. The appeal for tolerance, mutual understanding and peaceful coexistence instead of division in this important piece of enlightenment is alarmingly topical, said Minister of State for Culture Claudia Roth (Greens) on Thursday evening in Berlin. The Berlin Theatertreffen is one of the largest stage festivals in the German-speaking world.
"Unfortunately, we find ourselves in times in which much of what has been painstakingly and courageously fought for since the Enlightenment needs to be defended." Democracy needs the freedom of art and theater, "as a place where so much of what drives, concerns and agitates society is negotiated," said Roth.
German director Ulrich Rasche staged "Nathan the Wise" for the Salzburg Festival last year. On a constantly moving revolving stage, the actors bring Gotthold Ephraim Lessing's drama (1779) about religious tolerance between Jews, Muslims and Christians at the time of the Crusades to the stage. Actress Valery Tscheplanowa plays the male title character in the almost four-hour play.
Rasche said at a press conference on Tuesday that he was pleased that the text was being heard once again in these times. After the terrorist attack by Islamist Hamas on Israel on October 7, 2023, the context had become extremely tense.
The Theatertreffen runs until May 20. Each year, a jury invites ten productions from Germany, Austria and Switzerland that they consider to be remarkable. This year, productions from Berlin, Zurich and Jena are among those included - such as the walk-in production "Riesenhaft in Mittelerde" by Schauspielhaus Zürich, which is based on Tolkien's fantasy work "The Lord of the Rings".
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