Jelinek has used the fatal attacks in Paris as impetus for her new play “Wut” (Rage). Her work deals with those fatal assaults on eight members of the editorial team of the satirical magazine “Charlie Hebdo”, two police officers and four customers of a supermarket selling kosher food in the eastern part of the city. Her text unleashes the rage which may have generated the attacks. That rage which in a grandiose, narcissistic self-empowerment sweeps away all doubts and any powerlessness with the cry “This is our moment now! You had your time, now our time has come! Look here and die!”

As usual Jelinek layers her levels of meaning. She refrains from getting bogged down in the blind rage of Islamist terrorists. Instead we experience a polyphonic choir of rage. It comprises the voices of enraged German citizens as well as those of other “upright”, “awakening” Europeans and even the fury of the antique hero Heracles who, dazzled by the goddess Hera, extinguishes his own family in his delusion. Also the author’s own rage intermingles. Her rage against those who are powerless in the presence of the terror of rage, the rage against the rage dealers, the populists and demagogues, the rage against those who are hungry for and addicted to rage, the rage against her own inability to grasp the indescribable in her writing, her inability to make it comprehensible. But, can rage only be understood as driver for destruction? How can it be shared, how can it unite those who have been excluded or left behind, without excluding others? What could emerge from the rage? “Wut” is the eighth production of the self-selected artistic cooperative of Elfriede Jelinek and Nicolas Stemann, in-house director at the Kammerspiele. This team looks back on a long history; in Munich, where they have yet to appear together, they will now continue their collaboration.

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Dear Audience,

the talk „Kasper König & Michaela Meise“ was canceled without a substitute.
We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause. Purchased tickets can be handed in until December 17th at the box office of Kammerspiele or exchanged for another performance.

We thank you for your understanding.

In the December issue of “König &”, Michaela Meise is our guest. Kasper König talks to the Berlin-based artist and musician, who works with such diverse media as ceramics, painting, photography and music, about her most recent work: “Ich bin Griechin” (I am a Greek Woman). In a touching and haunting manner, the artist interprets chansons and folk songs from the 1970s, among others by Mikis Theodorakis, with just the accordion and her voice. The title alludes to an album by the Greek singer and actress Melina Mercouri (“Je Suis Grecque”, 1971). In dialogue with Kasper König, Michaela Meise also talks about the political and historical context of these songs, her relationship to the notion of home, the figure of the guest worker and memories of Greece, where she spent the summer holidays during her childhood. In a concert part of the evening, she will perform a selection of songs from “Ich bin Griechin” for the first time in Munich. This event marks the end of the Kasper König series after more than two years.

After “Der Fall Meursault – Eine Gegendarstellung” and “Die Attentäterin”, Amir Reza Koohestani now stages a play central to the canon of Western theatre for the first time at the Münchner Kammerspiele: “Macbeth”. Shakespeare wrote this tragedy that revolves around a murderous royal couple more than 400 years ago as a piece of propaganda, which he intended at the time as confirmation of the king’s position (as well as his own). Koohestani takes this as the starting point for a reflection on contemporary expectations of theatre: Can political power relations still be strengthened or questioned today through fictional stories? Which stories must and which may be told? How innocent or dangerous is art, and how powerful are its narratives? In his approach to political issues, Koohestani always reflects the consequences for the people. Although trapped in a power structure, they still have to face the consequences of their own actions – whether insecure, committed, elated or traumatised. In private conversations and intimate moments, he creates an up-to-date political panorama, which also focuses on people’s everyday lives. “And if we fail?”, a sleepless Macbeth asks his wife and accomplice. “Then we fail”.

With the kind support of the Association of Friends of the Münchner Kammerspiele.

According to surveys by the Japan Family Planning Association, sex no longer matters to half of all Japanese couples. What’s more, almost 50% of 18 to 24-year-olds have never had sex. “I’m attracted to some of my girlfriends, but I’ve learned to live without sex. Emotional entanglements are just too complicated. I’m not into that,” as an article in The Guardian quotes one young man as saying. “People seem to have concluded that the satisfaction they get from sex is lower than the effort required,” says Masahiro Yamada, Professor of Family Sociology in Tokyo. Is this state of affairs a systemic failure, or is it driven by a fear of real-life intimate moments with an actual counterpart — something that seems much simpler in the virtual world? Are relationships just another stress factor for people exhausted by long working hours, or does this version of “I would prefer not to” embody a subversive act in the face of a male-dominated culture of desire? Director Toshiki Okada and his theatre group chelfitsch celebrated their first international success in 2004 with the play “5 Days in March”, in which two young people flee from the outside world into a ‘love hotel’, primarily to have sex for five days. In his third production at the Münchner Kammerspiele following “Hot Pepper, Air Conditioner and the Farewell Speech” and “Nō Theater”, Toshiki Okada now narrates the tale of young and not-so-young people, who sing love songs in a karaoke bar without physically touching each other.

Tip: Scroll to the bottom of the page in order to obtain the programme as PDF.