SCHILLER Freiheit ist nur in dem Reich der Träume

"Illusion rules the world, and justice exists only on the stage." – These words, written by the poet over two hundred years ago, have lost none of their truth. On the contrary! Schiller, who throughout his life grappled with the questions of an ideal form of society and wove his critique of the one that existed at the time into his philosophical treatises – but above all into his poetry – put fiery messages into the mouths of his famous characters.

Johanna, Marquis Posa, Fiesko, Maria Stuart, and Schiller himself all have their say here. Excerpts from the dramas The Maid of Orleans, Don Carlos, Prince of Spain, Fiesco’s Conspiracy at Genoa, Mary Stuart, along with a selection of poems, ballads, and reflections from prose writings – which likewise illuminate the concepts of beauty and love in relation to freedom and societal development – come together to form a powerful collage intended to reflect the timelessness of Schiller’s ideas and views. This performance sets out to create a monument to the “poet of freedom.”

• Idea, concept, and development: Cora Chilcott
  

Cora Chilcott, an actress at the Berliner Ensemble from 2001–2014, has performed various solo works at venues including the Volksbühne Berlin, the Schiller Week in Marbach, the Schiller Houses in Leipzig and Rudolstadt, for the Goethe Institutes in Lisbon, Riga, Stockholm, Oslo, at the Kleist Days in Sarajevo, the 200th birthday of Georg Büchner in Darmstadt and Strasbourg, as well as on behalf of the German Shakespeare Society and the Klassik Stiftung Weimar. Her audiobook Erlkönigs Tochter – sagenhafte Balladen und schaurige Lieder was honored by Hessischer Rundfunk (hr2 Audiobook Best List).


(in German)