St. Matthew Passion (DE)
When the director behind the hugely successful The Growth of the Soil comes to Oslo with his own company, it’s the first time that a German theatre has its own opening during the Ibsen festival.
Directed by Sebastian Hartmann / Centraltheater Leipzig
Sebastian Hartmann is taking up his position as theatre director at the main theatre in Leipzig with an opening performance about the relationship of the people of the West with the Christian God. The key to the Ibsen Festival is in Brand, one of three fundamental texts in this triptych portraying the human suffering. In a statement from Centraltheater Leipzig the central theme is explained in these words:
Without faith there is no humanity. Without faith there is no culture, and there is no society without religion. Whether we like it or not, we are all part of the same history. Could the disasters of the modern age be a sign that God himself has risen again? There are at any rate many ways of telling the story of how enlightened humans are defeated by the burden of freedom and the fear of taking responsibility. The resurrected God is an angry God, one who brings a sword and not peace. The God of Wrath and the God of bloodshed and massacres. For it is we, who have forsaken God, and not God who has forsaken us.
For the first time
It is the first time that Winter Light (Nattvardsgästerna) and the St. Matthew Passion are being presented on stage. The first part is based on Ingmar Bergmans Winter Light in a new translation by Renate Bleibtreu. It is the story of a clergyman in a small provincial Swedish town who has lost his faith in God. He doesn’t want to help when a parishioner weary of life asks him to. The second part is based on Ibsens Brand, in a new rendering by Christian Morgenstern. Brand is seen as the story of a person in search of an existential meaning, one who fights for his life and who finally sacrifices all and everything to live up to the only true ideal: all or nothing. The last part is based on the Gospel of Matthew and the libretto of Bachs St. Matthew Passion. It is the first time this work is presented on stage. Some additional texts by Dostojevskij, Kinski and Saramago will be included.
Cast: Henrike von Kuik, Anita Vulesica, Franziska Petri, Emma Rönnebeck, Barbara Trommer, Matthias Hummitzsch, Thomas Lawinky, Peter Rene Lüdicke, Berndt Stübner and Arno Waschk.
Director: Sebastian Hartmann. Stage set and costumes: Susanne Münzner. Music: Arno Waschk. Dramaturgy and adaptation: Uwe Bautz. Proof: Peter René Lüdicke.