Brecht’s „Lesson“ marked the arrival of materialist dialectics on the German stages, introducing a genuinely theatrical concept of historical materialism. In this teaching play the participants are collectively educated in political consciousness by “performing a play”. With his new production, Frank Castorf goes right back to the roots of dialectics, exploring the catastophe potential of modernity. There are four crashed pilots:
"Wir vergaßen über den Kämpfen / Unsre Namen und unser Gesicht / Über dem Aufbruch / Vergaßen wir unsres Aufbruchs Ziel" [while fighting / we forgot our names and our sense of self/ while setting off /we forgot our goal] and a chorus asking who benefits from progress? It’s an investigation into whether humans help their kind. In a mutual conflict of interests, two clowns violently dismember arms and legs of the suffering Mr. Smith in an attempt to alleviate his pain. Finally, the head falls.
With: Kathrin Angerer, Margarita Breitkreiz, Hans Schenker, Mex Schlüpfer, Axel Wandtke and Ruth Rosenfeld
Choir: Dana Hoffmann, Gesina Krebber, Maren Claus, Maja Lange, Helga Bartz, Petra Wunderling, Marian Kalus, Johann Binder, Fritz Walter Huste, Frank Bauszus, Tobias Fischer, Jan Lentschke
Orchestra: stefanpaul, Martin Curth, Christian Ahrens, Gregor Fuhrmann, Natalia Ladstätter
Director: Frank Castorf
Music: stefanpaul
Stage Designer: Bert Neumann, Jochen Hochfeld
Costumes: Ulrike Köhler
Light Design: Torsten König
Dramaturgy: Sebastian Kaiser
