Maß für Maß

In the organizer's words:

Measure for Measure

by William Shakespeare

About the play

"Measure for Measure" is one of William Shakespeare's comedies, which is not easy for today's audience to understand in view of the conflict between life and death. This makes it all the more exciting to look at it from a contemporary perspective.

Shakespeare's fictional Vienna is a morally dilapidated metropolis in which dubious riff-raff has spread and everyday life is permeated by prostitution and crime. Apparently, the president's overly liberal government is not entirely innocent, which is why she dares to make a radical change: she appoints Angelo as interim regent, ostensibly to go on a trip. In reality, however, she disguises herself as a nun and mingles with the people of the city.
Angelo is regarded as a real hardliner, incorruptible and righteous to the bone. His first official act is a death sentence: Claudio, who has impregnated his lover before marriage, is to be executed for fornication. But Lucio, Claudio's friend, persuades his sister, Isabella, to ask Angelo to pardon him. Isabella is a novice and her purity and insistent pleas awaken unprecedented feelings in Angelo: is it infatuation or just lust? He sees his opportunity to finally find out what love and lust are all about and blackmails Isabella: if she sleeps with him, he will pardon her brother.
Isabella is outraged and would rather sacrifice her brother than her self-determined chastity. As the noose tightens, Isabella asks the president, who is traveling incognito, for help. And she finds a cunning way to catch Angelo in his own wrongdoing... Darkness, desire, a fake corpse and a nasty show trial play the main roles.
William Shakespeare ingeniously mixes this life-threatening conflict with situations full of black humor and legal philosophical and theological arguments - a thriller that poses the question of what a government is allowed to do in order to enforce the law.

Following KING CHARLES III and ANGELA I, the ensemble's third work with director Stefan Otteni also explores the relationship between the people and the state. What rules does a city, a state set for itself? Do they follow insights and habits that the majority of the population share and live by, or do they depend on the personal qualities or shortcomings of those in power? Is a representative of the people supposed to cajole or castigate the people in order to enforce laws? And who are "the people"? The thinking citizen? The blind mob? These are urgent questions in the wake of the pandemic and populism. Tragic questions that Shakespeare resolves in a comedic drama, or rather a dramatic comedy.

Cast

by William Shakespeare. Based on the translation by Chris Alexander.
Directed by Stefan Otteni.
Stage. Heike Neugebauer.
Costumes: Rike Schimitschek.
Music: Thomas Krizsan/Maria Hinze.
Musical direction: Ekkehard Lampe-Steinhage.
With: Simon Elias, Tim Lee, Peter Lüchinger, Michael Meyer, Sofie Alice Miller, Petra-Janina Schultz, Kathrin Steinweg.

Duration: 2:30 incl. intermission

Performance language: German

This content has been machine translated.

Price information:

normal: 25 € reduced: 14 € Free admission for students of the University, HS and HfK Bremen and HKS Ottersberg