Die Leiden des jungen Werther

In the organizer's words:

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by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
In German language

Werther is in love with Lotte. But Lotte is with Albert. Werther has been warned that it is hopeless, that Lotte is out of his reach. But he recognizes a kindred spirit in Lotte and doesn't give up trying to woo her... And she doesn't seem entirely uninterested either. Goethe's epistolary novel became a bestseller in 1774 and made the then 25-year-old famous overnight. The success had unexpected side effects: The story about the young man whose unrequited love for Lotte ultimately drives him to suicide became a role model and inspiration for many unhappy lovers and triggered a veritable wave of suicides. Today, the "Werther effect" is a term used in social psychology to describe the phenomenon of "media-mediated copycat suicides". Is it really love when you talk about possession? What kind of love does Werther actually feel for Lotte? Jacqueline Reddington's production examines Werther's ego, which, hurt by Lotte, demands a grand gesture: the staging of his suffering. To this end, the director and her team create a multimedia space in which the young Werther rehearses his suicide. Ensemble member László Branko Breiding plays the famous character as an energetic solo that alternates between psychological role-playing and direct address. We offer an IMPULS folder for this production. If you are interested, please contact Jeremy Heiß (e-mail: jeremy.heiss@mannheim.de / Tel.: 0621 1680 488 ) This content has been machine translated.