Julius Caesar nach William Shakespeare

In the organizer's words:

"Rome ferments a sick mischief in the soul"
The student theater group Spieltrieb is staging William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar on July 3, 4, 6 and 7, 2025

"Abuse of office is when power separates itself from conscience." This summer, the student theater group Spieltrieb takes its audience to ancient Rome, where the centuries-old institution of democracy threatens to succumb to the greed for power of a single man.

At the beginning of the play, the title character Julius Caesar returns to Rome in a triumphal procession and is celebrated by a cheering crowd. But not all Romans are well-disposed towards Caesar: His abuse of office, his disregard for the Senate and ultimately his cold-blooded murder of Pompey - once Caesar's comrade-in-arms in the triumvirate - are met with incomprehension and outrage by many. The senator Cassius fears for the continued existence of the Roman Republic and gathers like-minded people around her to save Rome from Caesar's autocracy. She also has to win over the honourable Senator Brutus for this project, who also recognizes the grievances, but struggles with the necessary consequences due to her emotional closeness to Caesar.

Shakespeare's tragedy, which was probably completed in 1599 and premiered in the same year, was already one of the most popular adaptations of Caesar's material during his lifetime. The question raised in the play about the legitimacy of political rule continues to inspire reflection a good 400 years after its premiere: What is good for Rome and its people? What does it mean to take responsibility and stand up for one's values? What characterizes honourable living and dying? In addition to these questions, Spieltrieb's production also focuses on the topic of power and gender with an unusual cast of characters: how are male characters perceived when they are suddenly read as female? Does gender have an effect on perception in positions of power? And how do relationships change through gender bending?

The cross-faculty student theater group Spieltrieb was founded in Freiburg in 2012 and now consists of 18 young workers and students. In the summer semester of 2025, we will be performing Julius Caesar, our eleventh play.

You can find more information about our group and our rehearsals on Instagram at spieltrieb_freiburg

Admission at 19:45, start at 20:00

Price information:

regular € 7 / reduced € 4; ticket reservations at reservierungen.spieltrieb@proton.me (stating name, number of regular/reduced tickets and date) and Box Office