Mephisto

In the organizer's words:

based on the novel by Klaus Mann

In a version by Nils Strunk and Lukas Schrenk

From 15 years

Duration: approx. 3h 45, 1 intermission

How does art relate to politics, theater to power? Always dissatisfied with his previous career in the "provincial town" of Hamburg, the ambitious actor Hendrik Höfgen sees his chance when the National Socialists seize power in 1933: he comes to terms with the new rulers and, with the help of the "aviation general" - number two in the new regime - quickly rises to become a theater star and finally state theater director in Berlin. He accepts the fact that he betrays his political and ethical ideals and turns his back on his friends and colleagues.

Klaus Mann's literary study of reality, written and published in exile in the Netherlands in 1936, takes an almost prophetic look at the dark development of the criminal Nazi regime. Mann paints a satirical and almost scathing portrait of the careerist, behind whom - despite Klaus Mann's insistence on his main character as a "symbolic type" - the real-life actor Gustaf Gründgens can be recognized. Reason enough for the judges in Karlsruhe to stop publication of the novel in West Germany in 1971 with the highly regarded Mephisto decision due to a violation of personal rights. It was only ten years later that they dared to publish the novel again. But what about artistic freedom and the ideal of uncompromisable art today?

Nils Strunk, an actor at Vienna's Burgtheater, made his directorial debut at the Staatstheater in the 2020/21 season with the acclaimed solo performance Mozart und Salieri. With a view to the present day, he is now once again focusing on the "symbolic type" and reinterpreting Klaus Mann's satirical classic novel together with the acting ensemble.