Dates & Tickets 
A woman walks through plastic waste. She is holding a parasol that is slightly bent, as if it had been standing in the wind. You can see more garbage in the background.

Photo: Maurice Korbel

MK:

Asche

By Elfriede Jelinek

 Schauspielhaus
 World premiere
 Opening night: 26.4.2024
 approx. 1 hour 50 minutes
 English surtitles
 Thu-Sat: 15-45€, Sun-Wed: 10-40€, under 30 years each seat category: 10€
 Schauspielhaus
 World premiere
 Opening night: 26.4.2024
 approx. 1 hour 50 minutes
 English surtitles
 Thu-Sat: 15-45€, Sun-Wed: 10-40€, under 30 years each seat category: 10€

A very personal text about saying goodbye to the earth — Falk Richter stages a dense fabric of text, music, drama and AI visual worlds.

Elfriede Jelinek has written a new play. Jelinek’s latest work “Asche” is a deeply personal text about the loss of a beloved companion, the fear of loneliness, the decay of one’s own body and, at the same time, the fear of the impending end of human civilization. Jelinek takes another look at the great myths of creation: what is the world, how did it come into being, why is the human body so susceptible to failure and why were we humans such unbearable “evil guests” on this planet who will soon have to leave - if humans continue to devastate all the foundations of life. But where to? Because the gods no longer want us and “people were not obedient to the earth, but only to their leaders”, Jelinek allows herself a tragicomic thought experiment: Why not create an unconsumable parallel earth? A never-aging, never-ill whole with a perfect body? That would be practical. It would also have been better to make the sea out of plastic right away, that would have saved us a lot. Now we have had to throw a lot of plastic into it to come to this conclusion. This touching text oscillates between sarcastic thought loops and bitter realization. And what do we get in the end? “But all singing is over now. And in the evening, when we go to sleep, what do we do? We do not sing, we do not bloom. Think about our suffering. Nothing else”.

Falk Richter, who most recently staged Jelinek’s “Am Königsweg” (Production of the Year 2018) at the Deutsches Schauspielhaus in Hamburg with great success, is devoting himself to Elfriede Jelinek’s new text together with set designer Katrin Hoffmann, costume designer Andy Besuch, sound designer Matthias Grübel and video artist Lion Bischof. “Asche” continues a long tradition of Jelinek (premiere) performances at the Münchner Kammerspiele.

With support by Goethe-Institut.
  • Assistent to the Director Hannah Waldow
  • Stage design assistance Nikolai Kuchin
  • Costume assistance Tom Schellmann
  • Stage Manager Barbara Stettner
  • Soufflage Jutta Masurath
  • Director's internship Philine Helm
  • Stage design internship Charlotte Grunewald, Christina Schuldheis
  • Costume internship Johanna Seitz
  • Dramaturgy internship Jonas Hirner
  • Theater pedagogy Filo Krause, Scherief Ukkeh
  • Artistic management Zora Luhnau
  • Technical management Jonas Pim Simon
  • Stage Master Thomas Graml
  • Stage Machinery Michael Preusser, Florian Obermeier
  • Lighting  Tobias Fisch, Tankred Friedrich, Parthasarathi Sampath Kumar, Mirko Mayrold Neubauer
  • Sound design Ulrich Treutwein, Katharina Widmaier-Zorn
  • Video Ikenna David Okegwo, Thomas Zengerle
  • Make-Up Sylvia Janka, Alyssia Achille, Thomas Opatz
  • Costume Lotta Goeden, Jessica Watermann, Nico Vanni
  • Props Anette Schultheiss, Sabine Schutzbach
  • Carpentry Hannes Zippert, Josef Piechatzek, Sebastian Nebe, Wolfgang Mechmann
  • Locksmithery Fritz Würzhuber, Jürgen Goudenhooft, Andreas Bacher
  • Decoration Tobias Herzog, Maria Hörger, Anja Gebauer
  • Painting hall Evi Eschenbach, Ingrid Weindl
  • Theatre sculpture Maximilian Biek
  • Surtitles Yvonne Griesel (SPRACHSPIEL), Gitta Honegger
  • Translation Gitta Honegger
  • Performing rights Rowohlt Theaterverlag
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Two robots in the background. In the foreground: Katharina Bach holds an older, naked person in her arms. Ulrike Willenbacher holds a baby in her arms. Svetlana Belesova a middle-aged man.

Learn more about the production “Asche” and the author Elfriede Jelinek.

Junge Nacht on 23.7.

Performance visit for young audiences followed by an artist talk and drinks in the Habibi Kiosk. To get 2 tickets for 10€, write to mitmachen@kammerspiele.de

Press reviews

Die Zeit • 1.5.24
ORF ZIB • 22.4.24
Deutschlandfunk • 27.4.24
Der Standard • 27.4.24
APA • 27.4.24
taz • 30.4.24
Münchner Merkur • 29.4.24
Süddeutsche Zeitung • 28.4.24
Passauer Neue Presse • 30.4.24
Dates & Tickets
Fri 18.10. 8 – 9:50 pm

Introduction from 7:30 pm

Back on the schedule Ars Moriendi
Sat 26.10. 8 – 9:50 pm

Talk afterwards

Tue 12.11. 8 – 9:50 pm

Introduction from 7:30 pm

Asche
  • Schauspielhaus
  • World premiere
  • Opening night: 26.4.2024
  • approx. 1 hour 50 minutes
  • English surtitles
  • Thu-Sat: 15-45€, Sun-Wed: 10-40€, under 30 years each seat category: 10€