War.Powers.Peace(?)
Following Heinrich V. by William Shakespeare
War.Powers.Peace(?)
Following Heinrich V. by William Shakespeare
Co-production based on William Shakespeare's “Henry V” with texts by Niccolò Machiavelli, Hannah Arendt and performers from Germany, Russia and Ukraine. Open Air.
In this co-production with the Urban Theater, whose members had to experience flight and expulsion, performers from Russia, Ukraine and Germany present a play based on Shakespeare's Henry V, supplemented with texts by Niccolò Machiavelli and Hannah Arendt as a contribution to peace and understanding.
In Natalia Lapina's production, Shakespeare's historical play looks like a contemporary political drama and depicts in real time how the protagonist King Henry V, who is under domestic political pressure, persuades his advisors, the army and ultimately an entire nation to participate in a war. Despite the timelessly modern references to current world politics, the performance does not provide any easy answers, but confronts existential questions:
What motivates a ruler to force people to hate, soldiers into battle and a people to fight? Is it in our power to end a war and bring about peace? By what means of manipulation, rhetoric and demagogy does a war become a tool of politics - and what price does the civilian population pay in any case, regardless of which side it feels it belongs to?
In addition to Shakespeare's trick of having a chorus comment on the dramatic events and political developments, Niccolò Machiavelli and Hannah Arendt appear as other historical figures and enable a differentiated analysis of the currently virulent themes of power and powerlessness. The audience can and should draw their own conclusions about possible parallels with current reality - but it is possible that the positions taken in life will change, similar to those on stage.
With Henning Bormann, Tim Otto Göbel, Ilya Khodyrev, Seva Kovalenko, Oleksandr Kryvosheiev, Olha Kryvosheieva, Anselm Lipgens, Illia Rudakov, Michael Schröder, Saskia von Winterfeld
Director: Natalia Lapina, dramaturgy and text version: Natalia Skorokhod, set design: Arina Slobodianik, music: Roman Stolyar, production management: Witalij Schmidt, artistic director and translation text version: Christian Leonard, translation Shakespeare: translators' collective ConTra Wiebke Acton and Yvonne Jäckel
Duration
2 hours 30 minutes
Pauses
1
Web
Work info
Contents
Based on Shakespeare's history “Henry V”, which was first performed 420 years ago in London's Globe Theater, the performance combines several narrative and temporal levels. While the plot is structured by a chorus, commented on by appearances of historical figures and later condensed by multilingual inserts of personal experiences of the actors, live music drives the action forward. The audience takes part in a trial in which the actions of King Henry of England are viewed and questioned from various perspectives, while Niccolo Machiavelli appears as the defense attorney and Hannah Arendt as the prosecutor. Parallels to current reality can be highlighted and addressed in real time.
When King Henry V receives proof that he is entitled to the throne of France according to his family tree and a message arrives from the Dauphin, the son of the French king, he reacts to the provocation and decides to invade France. While the English army is weakened by exhaustion, hunger and disease during the campaign, the French are certain of their victory. Before the Battle of Azincourt, King Henry disguises himself, questions his soldiers and motivates them in a moving speech for the all-important battle. When England, although outnumbered, unexpectedly emerges victorious, Henry makes his conditions to the defeated and demands marriage to the French princess Catherine as the price for peace with France.
“I think the idea [of thinking about war in summer theater] is really great, even theater that takes place in the open air can be about something....”
“An intellectually, humanly and politically very ambitious evening, which I would prefer to many tepid, shallow summer theaters, and which, with this Urban Theater team of Russian and Ukrainian players, also becomes a kind of peace project that can also give hope.”
rbb radio3 early review by Barbara Behrendt on 21.6.2025 at 8:10 am
Globe Berlin
Sömmeringstraße 1510589 Berlin
21.00 EUR - 26.00 EUR
Globe Berlin Theater gGmbH