• DE

Announcement Weiße Nächte Retour Natur

From August 19 to September 04
Advance booking start: beginning of July

Last year we dared to experiment and extended the "Weiße Nächte" to a three-week festival. The audience's response was so overwhelming that we decided to hold the Weiße Nächte on three weekends again this year, opening the 2022/23 season. Once again, the leitmotif is Retour Nature and determines the themes of our multi-perspective festival: theater, concerts, performances, audio walks, discourses, parties, installations. Climate change seems to fade into the background against the backdrop of the now hopefully abating pandemic and the nightmarish events in Ukraine and their consequences. But the relationship between man and nature will nevertheless determine the future that lies ahead of us. This time, from August 19 to September 04, we will thematically focus on the complex relationship between nature - animals - humans.

At the center are two premieres: Henrik Ibsen's "Die Frau vom Meer" in the production of Philipp Preuss, the stage will float on pontoons in the lake of Raffelbergpark. The various fairy tales and legends of mermaids are in the background of Ibsen's text. Coming from the sea, the mermaid is animal and human at the same time. A clear habitat is denied her, especially since the state of the seas today makes a life for their animal inhabitants increasingly problematic.

The second premiere, "Anatomie eines Wortes - Ritt über dem Bodensee", directed by Simone Thoma, is based, among other things, on the ballad "Der Reiter und der Bodensee" by Gustav Schwab. The horse, once a symbol of freedom, became the technical unit of measurement PS in the course of the industrial revolution. Is man facing a similar fate? Will "AI" become his unit of measurement? The production combines different genres such as film, modern fairy tale opera and drama.

We are happy to have Martin Kohlstedt, also an internationally acclaimed composer, pianist and electronic experimenter, once again curate the concert program. Already in 2021, the musicians he selected showed a special relationship between music, people and nature.

Helmut Schäfer will set out on audio walks in the park with experts and explore the relationship between humans and animals from very different perspectives; interventions by our actors will playfully expand this view, as will discourses and video installations. And not to forget: The garbage animals are loose!

Like last year, the entrance fee will be charged on the basis of the "pay what you can" method. Starting at € 8,50 the price can be determined by yourself without any preconditions. The normal price is € 23,50 for a day ticket.

We celebrate a festival of art against the "un-spirit" of the time: exuberant and thoughtful at the same time! We look forward to you and you!