Das Wintermärchen

In the organizer's words:

"Time heals all wounds", as the saying goes. But is its healing power enough to forgive injustice and unite those who are divided by hatred? Shakespeare's late work, written in 1611, is a plea for second chances in life, for reconciliation and devotion.

The Sicilian royal couple Leontes and Hermione have a close friendship with their guest Polixenes, ruler of Bohemia. However, Leontes is suddenly overcome with baseless, tormenting jealousy. He accuses the pregnant Hermione of cheating on him with Polixenes and wants to have them both killed. However, Polixenes manages to escape to his native Bohemia. Hermione is thrown into prison and Leontes abandons her newborn daughter Perdita in the Bohemian wilderness, under the delusion that she is Polixenes' child. When his wife dies of grief, Leontes realizes his injustice. But it is too late. He is plagued by deep remorse for the rest of his life and only learns sixteen years later that Perdita has survived and fallen in love with Polixenes' son. Polixenes feels betrayed by this secret relationship, and once again a destructive feeling threatens human happiness. Nothing less than a miracle is needed for love to finally triumph in the end.

Shakespeare's poetic fantasy creates a sphere in which time is no longer a mechanical, chronological process, but whose sequences and layers can be interchanged, juxtaposed, stretched and shortened. In its complexity, THE WINTER TALE combines great tragedy and comedy, romance and politics, magical poetry and passion.