
Michael Kohlhaas
by Heinrich von Kleist
‘Around the middle of the sixteenth century, there lived a horse dealer on the banks of the River Havel by the name of Michael Kohlhaas. He was the son of a schoolmaster, one of the most righteous and yet appalling men of his time.’
So begins Heinrich von Kleist’s story about the politically motivated criminal Kohlhaas who is forced to leave two horses as a deposit at a border post. When he returns, he finds the noble beasts half-starved and ruined by working in the fields. Denied compensation, he embarks on a campaign of revenge that begins as a defenceless person’s act of resistance and ends in a bloodbath. So, Kohlhaas progresses directly from ‘model citizen’ to ‘robber and murderer’. Heinrich von Kleist’s novella poses questions about the nature of culpability, justice, the individual and society, laying bare the mechanisms of terror and the maelstrom of escalating violence.
So begins Heinrich von Kleist’s story about the politically motivated criminal Kohlhaas who is forced to leave two horses as a deposit at a border post. When he returns, he finds the noble beasts half-starved and ruined by working in the fields. Denied compensation, he embarks on a campaign of revenge that begins as a defenceless person’s act of resistance and ends in a bloodbath. So, Kohlhaas progresses directly from ‘model citizen’ to ‘robber and murderer’. Heinrich von Kleist’s novella poses questions about the nature of culpability, justice, the individual and society, laying bare the mechanisms of terror and the maelstrom of escalating violence.
Director Andreas Kriegenburg
Stage Harald Thor
Costumes Andrea Schraad
Lights Cornelia Gloth
Dramaturgy Juliane Koepp, Franziska Trinkaus
Berlin-Premiere
30 October 2021
Deutsches Theater
Co-production with Bregenzer Festspiele and Les Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg
Duration: 2 hours, 30 minutes
30 October 2021
Deutsches Theater
Co-production with Bregenzer Festspiele and Les Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg
Duration: 2 hours, 30 minutes
Paul Grill

Lorena Handschin

Peter René Lüdicke

Bernd Moss

Markwart Müller-Elmau

Max Simonischek

Caner Sunar

Max Thommes

Brigitte Urhausen

Niklas Wetzel

What's on
With English surtitles
Invited to the 48th Mülheimer Theatertage
Specification of the Person (Angabe der Person)
Director: Jossi Wieler
Follow-up discussion with Contemporary Art Alliance - Saal
Deutsches Theater
19.30 - 21.50
19.00 Introduction – Saal
sold out
perh. remaining tickets at evening box office
perh. remaining tickets at evening box office
WORLD PREMIERE
Forever Yin Forever Young
A Funny van Dannen Evening
Director: Tom Kühnel and Jürgen Kuttner
Aftershow party with DJ Linda Pöppel – Bar
Kammerspiele
20.00 - 22.30
sold out
perh. remaining tickets at evening box office
perh. remaining tickets at evening box office