Wallenstein

In the organizer's words:

7 hours of Schiller, war and peace: bon appétit!

The "myth of Wallenstein", one of the most successful mercenary leaders in history, tells us a lot about today's big and dirty war painting, about highly topical structures of power, hubris and loyalty. Are there strategies for peace among all the deals?

House director Jan-Christoph Gockel uses Schiller's monumental poem, the Wallenstein trilogy, to explore the rise and fall of the man of power, Wallenstein, in a sensual spectacle. A myth is literally cooked and eaten on stage. The audience is invited - on this long evening - to join in the eating in order to ask together: How do we find an end? How do we get out of this? The last act is dedicated to the conclusion of peace, which in the case of the Thirty Years' War, after Wallenstein's end, was very durable.

Schiller has artfully condensed thirty years of war into the last three weeks before Wallenstein's assassination. On behalf of the Emperor, the Generalissimo fights with gigantic armies that feed themselves through plundering. But a mercenary leader must not become too powerful, and he must not lay claim to political power. In the end, the emperor orders Wallenstein's death. Something similar happened over 350 years later to Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner mercenary group, "Putin's cook", with his empire of luxury restaurants, troll factories and a powerful private army. In 2023, his march on Moscow fails, a "plane crash" plucks him from the sky.

Today, we find ourselves in a new age of mercenaries. In "Wallenstein's Camp", only the "cannon fodder" speaks at first: soldiers, women traders, children and peasants from the entourage. Who are these people today? The production team has been researching ex-mercenaries, relatives and NGOs for two years and will make these voices audible within Schiller's eloquent portrait of war.

A predominantly female ensemble plays it out for us, this "eternal war" as a way of life, as an act of heightened male self-expression. They delight in dismantling the myth and taking Wallenstein down from his pedestal.

"Playing Wallenstein is a challenge, and that's a great understatement. My first school report was on Schiller. Escaping his own insignificance was more important to him than health, money and short-term recognition. That impresses me."

- Samuel Koch, plays the role of Wallenstein