The Sorrows of Young Werther

A story of heartbreak in the 18th century: on the way to a ball, the young Werther meets Lotte and falls immediately and head over heels in love. When sparks are already flying between them that very evening, Lotte makes no secret of the fact that she is “as good as engaged” to the civil servant Albert. Yet, this does not stop Werther from becoming completely fixated on Lotte – quite the opposite. From that point on, he spends every free minute with her and eventually even befriends Albert. But soon this fragile constellation begins to unravel, and Werther’s emotional rollercoaster of devotion, jealousy and despair gives way to a profound depression.

With his early work DIE LEIDEN DES JUNGEN WERTHER (1774), the then only 25-year-old Johann Wolfgang von Goethe became an overnight sensation. His highly autobiographical epistolary novel remains to this day one of the key works of “Sturm und Drang” – a literary movement which, with its focus on emotion, subjectivity and freedom, rebelled against the rationalism of the Enlightenment. At the heart of the novel lies an idea of a sensitive, vulnerable and gentle masculinity that is still searching for its place in Western society today.

Following EIN SOMMERNACHTSTRAUM, co-artistic director Pınar Karabulut continues her exploration of love’s central questions in DIE LEIDEN DES JUNGEN WERTHER: who is allowed to show emotion within social structures – and who is not?

♥ Supported by the Gesellschaft der Freunde des Schauspielhauses